A Celebration of Life service for Gene Henderson, age 92 years, of Covington, Oklahoma, will be held Friday, July 1, 2016 at 10:30 a.m. at the Covington United Methodist Church with Emery Mason, Green County Methodist District Superintendent officiating. Interment , with military graveside honors conducted by the U.S.Army, will follow in the Covington Cemetery south of Covington.
Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Ladusau-Evans Funeral Home of Enid.
Family will receive friends 6:00-7:00 p.m. Thursday, June 30, at Ladusau-Evans Funeral Home
Gene was born October 21, 1923, in Freedom, Oklahoma, to Marion E. and Edna C. (Cobb) Henderson.
He graduated from Mooreland High School with the Class of 1941, and attended Oklahoma A&M for one year. Upon the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1942, he immediately enlisted in the U.S. Army and was placed in the A.S.T.P Program and continued his studies until March of 1943, when he traveled to Camp Mazie in Paris, Texas for basic training. While at Camp Mazie, he applied for veterinary school and was accepted. As a part of that program, he attended Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. for one year, and was later moved to Fort Simmons Hospital in Denver, Colo., where he subsequently completed his training as a medical technician. Several months later, he was shipped to Fort Benjamin, in Harrison Indiana, then to Camp Ellis in Illinois, on to Camp Barkley, Abilene, Texas, and finally to Camp Edwards in Massachusetts.
From Massachusetts, he received his orders for an overseas duty assignment and shipped out in April 1944 to Leyte in the Philippines. From there, he went on to Mindinau , where he was assigned to the 99th Evacuation Hospital. He then left the E-Vac hospital to travel to Pinai where new equipment and supplies were received with the anticipation of the invasion of Japan. As Gene and his team reached the Tokyo Harbor, they viewed the USS Battleship, Missouri leaving the Harbor and later learned that the Peace Treaty with Japan had been signed aboard the Missouri that very day. While serving in Utisoma, Japan, he was attached to the 158th Regimental Combat Team where he was served as a lab technician until returning to the United States. He was honorably discharged at Leavenworth, Kansas, in April of 1946.
Due to the deluge of returning servicemen, his enrollment for veterinary school at Kansas State University was delayed. He then returned to Oklahoma A&M, only to find that at the time, there was no vet school program. He decided he would resume his studies, majoring in agriculture education.
While in Mooreland during the summer of 1946, he met Iris Binford. They were married August 1, 1947, and then returned to Oklahoma A&M, where he completed his senior year, and while doing so, served as the editor of the Redskin yearbook.
Upon graduation, Mr. Henderson accepted the position of Vocational Agriculture instructor in Amorita, Oklahoma. In 1953, he accepted a position for Vo-Ag instructor in Covington, OK, where he taught for 26 years. In 1979, he accepted a position with the State Department of Vo-Tech as the Young Farmer Coordinator for the western half of the state and operated from his office at the Enid O.T. Autry Technology Center for almost a decade. After his retirement in December of 1987, he ran for and was elected as a member and later served as president of the O.T. Autry Technology Center Board of Education , where he served for two consecutive terms.
Mr. Henderson was a lifetime member of the United Methodist Church. He was a member of the Covington American Legion and Lions Club. Gene served as a current Board member for the Tri-County Senior Citizens Center. He also served on the Board of Directors for the First State Bank of Covington.
Gene is preceded in death by his parents, Marion and Edna Henderson; brothers, Donald and Wilbur Henderson; brother-in-law, Burton Starcher, and grandson, Conor Henderson.
He is survived by, his wife, Iris Henderson of Covington; his sister, Eleanor Starcher of Arvada, Colorado; his four children, son, Jeff and wife Angie Henderson of Oklahoma City; daughter, Jennifer Hart and husband Steve of Enid; son, Brent Henderson and wife Cheri of Kingfisher; son, Brian Henderson and wife, Carla of Kingfisher. Gene has 11 grandchildren, and 16 great-grandchildren.
Memorials are asked to be made to Covington United Methodist Church and Hospice, Circle of Love, with Ladusau-Evans Funeral Home serving as custodian of Funds.
Condolences may be made and services viewed online at www.ladusauevans.com
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