Richard E. Henderson, age 79, died Monday, October 5, 2020, at Hays Medical Center, Hays, Kansas. He was born October 2, 1941, in Norton, Kansas, to Wallace Alfred and Helen Margaret (Kent) Henderson. He married Waunita (Thiele) on August 12, 1967, at Norton, Kansas.
He was a Math/Science/Latin high school teacher for 15 years. He taught in Victoria, Klamath Falls, Oregon, and his remaining years at Grainfield, where he started their wrestling program. He was an insurance agent with American Family Insurance for 18 years in Oakley and Hays. He was a courier with Henry Industries for a few years, a notary republic, and pasted president of the Central Plains ARC in Hays. He grew up in Norton, and was a 1959 graduate of Norton High School , and a 1964 graduate of Fort Hays State College. He started his work ethic early in life delivering the Norton Daily Telegram and The Omaha World Herald. Richard was a non-fiction reader, and an independent thinker. He enjoyed the Big 12 sports, gardening, and his two Shih-Tzu, Misty and Mandy.
Survivors include his wife, Waunita Henderson, and his daughter, Andrea Henderson, both of the home; three sons, Matthew Henderson and Sara Bressan, Prairie Village, KS; Kyle Henderson, Dallas TX; Jeremiah Henderson, Hays, KS; one brother, John Henderson and wife, Betty, Topeka, KS; one sister, Geraldine Dunning and husband, Earl, Arlington, TX; many nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents; his father-in-law and mother-in-law, Raymond and Clara Thiele.
A Celebration of Life service will be at 10:30 A.M. Tuesday, November 24, 2020 at Cline’s-Keithley Mortuary of Hays, 1919 East 22nd Street, Hays, Kansas 67601. Burial was held at Fort Hays Memorial Gardens Cemetery, Hays, Kansas on October 6, 2020.
The family will receive friends from 9:00 to 10:30 A.M. Tuesday, at the mortuary. Memorials are suggested to Fort Hays State University Alumni Association or Humane Society of the High Plains in care of the mortuary.
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Condolences can be sent via e-mail to [email protected] or can be left at guest book at www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com