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Steven Dan Henderson

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Steven Dan Henderson

Birth
USA
Death
26 Jun 1991 (aged 38)
Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, USA
Burial
Malesus, Madison County, Tennessee, USA Add to Map
Memorial ID
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NEWSPAPER EDITOR HENDERSON DIES AT 38

Dan Henderson, bird-watcher, cat fancier, trout fisherman, book-writer, word-lover, outdoorsman, newspaper editor and the creator of The Commercial Appeal's annual Christmas legend, Clarabell the Cow, is dead at 38.

Henderson, who had a history of heart problems, was found in his apartment in downtown Memphis about 10 a.m. Wednesday following a hectic night in which he worked to get a newspaper photographer out of jail. The photographer had been arrested while trying to take pictures of a wounded policeman at a crime scene. That final struggle was typical of Henderson, who fought all his life for the public's right to know.

Although Henderson had complained the past few days of not feeling well, his death came as a shock. Silence spread across the newsroom, and the Scripps Howard flag in front of the building was lowered to half-staff.

The county medical examiner's office said it would decide today whether to conduct an autopsy.

The newsman's body was discovered Wednesday after a maid was unable to get into his apartment. She telephoned The Commercial Appeal, where Henderson had worked since 1975, rising to the rank of assistant managing editor in 1982.
Editor Lionel Linder, managing editor Colleen Conant and assistant managing editor Jack Lessenberry went to the apartment, where Henderson's body lay on a couch.
Henderson's girlfriend, Vicki Rea, who arrived at the same time, said it looked as if Henderson had gotten up, fed his two cats, and was getting ready for work when he lay down.

Miss Rea, who had accompanied Henderson to a meeting of the Tennessee Press Association last weekend, said that although he was not feeling well, that did not prevent him from spending two hours crawling through Dunbar cave. It was a feat for Henderson, who had Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a rare inherited disorder that caused the death of his mother at 55.

Like most victims, Henderson suffered from curvature of the spine, but he refused to let it interfere with his passion for the outdoors.

As word of Henderson's death spread across the city and country, dismay and sadness filtered into the newsroom.
William R. Burleigh, an executive with Scripps Howard, The Commercial Appeal's parent company, said, ''More than once, Mike Grehl (former editor) told me that if anyone summed up the soul of The Commercial Appeal, it was Dan Henderson. In other ways Lionel Linder has echoed the same thought. Dan was a wonderful writer, an inspiring, albeit quiet leader, and a person passionately devoted to the readers of the CA, to the citizens of Memphis and to the craft he served so well.''

Henderson had been at his craft since 1975, when he joined The Commercial Appeal after attending Memphis State University, where he had been editor of The Statesman, the school's weekly magazine, and the MSU newspaper, The Helmsman.

Shortly after joining The Commercial Appeal, he became one of the chief writers for the newspaper's Mid-South Magazine. It was there that he first published the story of Clarabell. He wrote it at the urging of the late editor Grehl, who thought it was so good that he began the custom of reprinting it every Christmas.

Charles Tuthill, the artist who drew Clarabell, recalled that Henderson originally intended her to be a blue-eyed cow. However, magazine editor E. B. Blackburn insisted that cows' eyes were not blue but brown. Despite the difference of opinion about the color of cow eyes, Blackburn, retired managing editor of The Rocky Mountain News in Denver, said Wednesday, ''Talent rolled out of Dan Henderson like water out of a mountain spring.'' Besides his newspaper work, Henderson was a science-fiction writer, with a book, Paradise, and several stories to his credit.

Mrs. Conant, the managing editor, said, ''He had the highest ethical standards of any newsman I ever knew. He demanded the best from me as a boss. I don't know what I will do without him.'' Mrs. Conant apparently was one of the last people to speak to Henderson, about 11 p.m. Tuesday after Henderson managed to get hold of the newspaper's attorneys and asked them to arrange bail for jailed photographer Steve Jones.

Henderson started working on the case about 7:30 p.m. when a picture editor called him at his apartment and told him what had happened. Henderson spent the next three hours on the phone.

Henderson, who divorced several years ago, lived in the Lowenstein Towers overlooking the Mississippi River in downtown Memphis. It was there that he was sitting, on the evening his mother died, when one of the strangest things in his memory happened: His cat simply leapt off the balcony to its death.

It was the kind of thing that would have haunted a man who looked for facts as a journalist and fantasy as an author of science-fiction. One of his short stories, Carruthers' Last Stand, was included in an anthology of the best science-fiction of 1979.

Miss Rea said Henderson was at work on his third book and was revising the second at the time of his death.
Linder praised Henderson as a man with a marvelous, analytical mind. ''He was constantly asking about fairness - were we being fair in this story or that story? It's so important to have someone doing that in this business. Everyone in Memphis can be thankful for that.''
Many staffers spoke as friends. Tom Jordan, an assistant metro editor and fishing companion, recalled ''trips we took to the outback in search of trout or bird. He had an insatiable curiosity and packed a battalion of reference books along with his outdoor gear. That curiosity helped make him the fine journalist he was.''

Praise also came from other colleagues. ''Not having him is going to be a real loss, not for the press but for the public. He was in the forefront of activities to protect First Amendment rights and open-meeting laws,'' said David Lyons, outgoing president of the Mid-South chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. ''I think he always remembered how hard it had been to break into journalism,'' said Memphis State instructor Joyce Morrison. She praised him for being willing to ''speak anytime the student journalism chapter asked. He was a wonderful resource and good to our kids.''

He is survived by his father, Roy Henderson of Jackson, Tenn., two sisters, Debbie Foote of Jackson and Amy Montgomery of Union City, Tenn.; and his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Sammie Pitts and Mrs. Mildred Henderson, all of Memphis.

Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. today at Memphis Funeral Home, Poplar Chapel. Funeral services will be at 1 p.m. Friday at the funeral home with burial at 3 p.m. in Ebenezer Cemetery in Jackson.

Friends and family suggested that any memorials be made to the Audubon Society or the Sierra Club.

Commercial Appeal, The (Memphis, TN)
Date: June 27, 1991
Edition: Final
Page: A1
Record Number: 00179005
Copyright (c) 1991 The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN
Obituary provided by Jimmy Wilkins.

"Clarabell the Christmas Cow" created by Dan:

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2007/dec/19/clarabell-the-christmas-cow/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dan was a 1970 graduate of South Side High School in Jackson, Madison County, Tennessee.
NEWSPAPER EDITOR HENDERSON DIES AT 38

Dan Henderson, bird-watcher, cat fancier, trout fisherman, book-writer, word-lover, outdoorsman, newspaper editor and the creator of The Commercial Appeal's annual Christmas legend, Clarabell the Cow, is dead at 38.

Henderson, who had a history of heart problems, was found in his apartment in downtown Memphis about 10 a.m. Wednesday following a hectic night in which he worked to get a newspaper photographer out of jail. The photographer had been arrested while trying to take pictures of a wounded policeman at a crime scene. That final struggle was typical of Henderson, who fought all his life for the public's right to know.

Although Henderson had complained the past few days of not feeling well, his death came as a shock. Silence spread across the newsroom, and the Scripps Howard flag in front of the building was lowered to half-staff.

The county medical examiner's office said it would decide today whether to conduct an autopsy.

The newsman's body was discovered Wednesday after a maid was unable to get into his apartment. She telephoned The Commercial Appeal, where Henderson had worked since 1975, rising to the rank of assistant managing editor in 1982.
Editor Lionel Linder, managing editor Colleen Conant and assistant managing editor Jack Lessenberry went to the apartment, where Henderson's body lay on a couch.
Henderson's girlfriend, Vicki Rea, who arrived at the same time, said it looked as if Henderson had gotten up, fed his two cats, and was getting ready for work when he lay down.

Miss Rea, who had accompanied Henderson to a meeting of the Tennessee Press Association last weekend, said that although he was not feeling well, that did not prevent him from spending two hours crawling through Dunbar cave. It was a feat for Henderson, who had Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a rare inherited disorder that caused the death of his mother at 55.

Like most victims, Henderson suffered from curvature of the spine, but he refused to let it interfere with his passion for the outdoors.

As word of Henderson's death spread across the city and country, dismay and sadness filtered into the newsroom.
William R. Burleigh, an executive with Scripps Howard, The Commercial Appeal's parent company, said, ''More than once, Mike Grehl (former editor) told me that if anyone summed up the soul of The Commercial Appeal, it was Dan Henderson. In other ways Lionel Linder has echoed the same thought. Dan was a wonderful writer, an inspiring, albeit quiet leader, and a person passionately devoted to the readers of the CA, to the citizens of Memphis and to the craft he served so well.''

Henderson had been at his craft since 1975, when he joined The Commercial Appeal after attending Memphis State University, where he had been editor of The Statesman, the school's weekly magazine, and the MSU newspaper, The Helmsman.

Shortly after joining The Commercial Appeal, he became one of the chief writers for the newspaper's Mid-South Magazine. It was there that he first published the story of Clarabell. He wrote it at the urging of the late editor Grehl, who thought it was so good that he began the custom of reprinting it every Christmas.

Charles Tuthill, the artist who drew Clarabell, recalled that Henderson originally intended her to be a blue-eyed cow. However, magazine editor E. B. Blackburn insisted that cows' eyes were not blue but brown. Despite the difference of opinion about the color of cow eyes, Blackburn, retired managing editor of The Rocky Mountain News in Denver, said Wednesday, ''Talent rolled out of Dan Henderson like water out of a mountain spring.'' Besides his newspaper work, Henderson was a science-fiction writer, with a book, Paradise, and several stories to his credit.

Mrs. Conant, the managing editor, said, ''He had the highest ethical standards of any newsman I ever knew. He demanded the best from me as a boss. I don't know what I will do without him.'' Mrs. Conant apparently was one of the last people to speak to Henderson, about 11 p.m. Tuesday after Henderson managed to get hold of the newspaper's attorneys and asked them to arrange bail for jailed photographer Steve Jones.

Henderson started working on the case about 7:30 p.m. when a picture editor called him at his apartment and told him what had happened. Henderson spent the next three hours on the phone.

Henderson, who divorced several years ago, lived in the Lowenstein Towers overlooking the Mississippi River in downtown Memphis. It was there that he was sitting, on the evening his mother died, when one of the strangest things in his memory happened: His cat simply leapt off the balcony to its death.

It was the kind of thing that would have haunted a man who looked for facts as a journalist and fantasy as an author of science-fiction. One of his short stories, Carruthers' Last Stand, was included in an anthology of the best science-fiction of 1979.

Miss Rea said Henderson was at work on his third book and was revising the second at the time of his death.
Linder praised Henderson as a man with a marvelous, analytical mind. ''He was constantly asking about fairness - were we being fair in this story or that story? It's so important to have someone doing that in this business. Everyone in Memphis can be thankful for that.''
Many staffers spoke as friends. Tom Jordan, an assistant metro editor and fishing companion, recalled ''trips we took to the outback in search of trout or bird. He had an insatiable curiosity and packed a battalion of reference books along with his outdoor gear. That curiosity helped make him the fine journalist he was.''

Praise also came from other colleagues. ''Not having him is going to be a real loss, not for the press but for the public. He was in the forefront of activities to protect First Amendment rights and open-meeting laws,'' said David Lyons, outgoing president of the Mid-South chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. ''I think he always remembered how hard it had been to break into journalism,'' said Memphis State instructor Joyce Morrison. She praised him for being willing to ''speak anytime the student journalism chapter asked. He was a wonderful resource and good to our kids.''

He is survived by his father, Roy Henderson of Jackson, Tenn., two sisters, Debbie Foote of Jackson and Amy Montgomery of Union City, Tenn.; and his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Sammie Pitts and Mrs. Mildred Henderson, all of Memphis.

Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. today at Memphis Funeral Home, Poplar Chapel. Funeral services will be at 1 p.m. Friday at the funeral home with burial at 3 p.m. in Ebenezer Cemetery in Jackson.

Friends and family suggested that any memorials be made to the Audubon Society or the Sierra Club.

Commercial Appeal, The (Memphis, TN)
Date: June 27, 1991
Edition: Final
Page: A1
Record Number: 00179005
Copyright (c) 1991 The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN
Obituary provided by Jimmy Wilkins.

"Clarabell the Christmas Cow" created by Dan:

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2007/dec/19/clarabell-the-christmas-cow/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dan was a 1970 graduate of South Side High School in Jackson, Madison County, Tennessee.

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"TALENT FLOWED FROM DAN LIKE WATER FROM A MOUNTAIN STREAM"



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