Gene was born on September 13th 1942 the son of Cazzle and Reva Henson in Mansfield Arkansas. He lived in Mansfield until 1943, until his father was drafted into the U.S. Army. His father then moved the family to Dallas, Texas while he was over in Europe during WWII. When his father returned from WWII in 1946, he moved the family back to Mansfield. Gene's father received a letter from his brother-in-law, who had moved to California and he said, "You need to move to California", because "money was growing on trees in California". The family packed up and moved to Indio, California in 1948. Gene's first introduction to California was during the summer and he and his brothers went to the store with their father to buy groceries. Their father told them to stay in the car while he went into the store, instead they got out of the car and started to follow. Both of the brothers had no shoes on at the time and the concrete was very hot and when they realized it was painful, they started jumping up and down and crying for their father. Well their father came to the rescue and put them back into the car. Gene attended Thomas Jefferson elementary School in the 5th grade and he was the captain of the safety patrol. That was a very important job at the time because right across the street from the school was a Frosty Freeze and if you were in 5th or 6th grade and you had permission from your parents, you could go to the Frosty Freeze for lunch. Of course gene had the responsibility and control of who crossed the street to the Frosty Freeze. Gene also showed a desire to play the guitar during this time and so his father rented him one but later on he did not want to practice so then he wanted to play the clarinet and he learned to play it and was in the school band. During the summer of 1955 Gene moved to 1000 Palms, California where his father bought a new home. Now 1000 Palms was in between Indio, California and Palms Springs, California which was in the middle of the dessert. Gene attended Nellie N. Coffman Jr. High School and there he played the Trumpet in the school band. The new home needed a front lawn planted so his brother Larry and Gene worked for several days planting the new lawn. They were very proud of the work but one afternoon a very strong Santa Anna wind came along and buried the lawn with sand. So Gene and Larry took brooms from the house and began sweeping the new lawn clean with brooms. Gene then moved onto high school in 1957 and he played in the high school marching band. Gene loved music and he wrote two songs that he had recorded onto records at the time. These two songs eventually were played on the local radio station. Then in 1959 Gene moved back to Indio, California to live with his grandmother and there he graduated from High School. Shortly after graduation he joined the U.S. Navy in 1960. He went to boot camp in San Diego, California at the Naval Training Center and then moved on to his first duty station in California where he completed on the job training and was designated a Yeoman rate. This was an administrative support type of job for the Navy. He was then assigned to an Admiral Staff type duty and he served aboard the USS Midway and the USS Constellation during the Vietnam War. While he was in the Navy he met his bride to be Barbara K. Keck in 1961. He met her and a couple friends on a street corner in Glendale, California. Barbara instantly fell in love with gene’s blue eyes and long full eye lashes. They were married on May 30th, 1964 in Downey, California. They have five children and they are Cara, Michael, Richard, Jeramy and Nancy. They lived in Downey, California for 9 years of their marriage, then moved over the mountains in a VW Bug with four of the children at the time and 75 lbs of luggage and moved to Grants Pass, Oregon. Gene owned and operated his own water pump and well business for 10 years, then Gene, Barbara and his brother Larry and wife Trudy owned and operated a dry cleaning business called, “Henson’s Dry Cleaners” for many years. Both Gene and Barbara went to college and received their associates in liberal arts degrees at Rogue Community college. Then in 1984 Gene was interested in community affairs and he ran for the City Mayor of Grants Pass, Oregon. They lived in Grants Pass for 25 years and raised their five children. Then on February 28th 1994 they moved to Eugene, Oregon to be close to their youngest daughter Nancy while she attended the University of Oregon. Gene then worked for Ramsey wait pump service as a manager and Barbara worked for the medical records department at Sacred Heart Hospital. Later Gene moved on to working at Sacred Heart Hospital Health records department also. Gene believed in the mission and values of the sisters who founded Sacred Heart and supported them until he passed this year. He was with the hospital health records department for two years and four years in the material management department and then returned back to the health records department in the transcription section as a health records specialist. Gene’s recently completed the nurses’ assistance courses but was unable to practice because of cancer. Gene passed away at home with his family by his side in Eugene, Oregon on April 27, 2009
