Dr. Sid Henderson 1925 ~ 2011
Sidney Benson Henderson, age 85, passed away on July 18, 2011 at his home in Orem, Utah. He was born October 25, 1925 to Louis Edgar William Henderson and Anna Eugenia Benson Henderson in Downey, Idaho, the seventh of eight children. In his early life he lived in the small community of Arimo, Idaho. His family moved to Pocatello, Idaho, during the Depression in 1933 where he met and fell in love with DonaLe Cotant on his first day of school in the third grade. He attended schools in Pocatello until the beginning of his senior year of high school when he dropped out of school to join the U.S. Merchant Marines during World War II. He served nearly three years as a Fireman-Watertender and Oiler making five voyages in the engine room of ships loaded with munitions or gasoline to battles in the Pacific and the Middle East. Between voyages he married DonaLe Cotant on March 18, 1945. Twice he was awarded the Merchant Marines Combat Bar. After the war, on the return voyage from Japan, he was miraculously rescued after his ship broke in half in a violent storm in the icy waters of the Great Circle Route near the Aleutian Islands. After World War II he was allowed to attend Idaho State College on probation without a high school diploma. He became an honor student and then transferred to the University of Washington where he graduated from the School of Dentistry in 1954. He then joined the U.S. Navy Dental Corps and was attached to the U.S. Marine Corp s where he was promoted to Lieutenant Commander. He practiced dentistry in Santa Rosa, California for 28 years. He loved the people of Santa Rosa and had a special feeling for the Italian Catholic Community. He served in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a counselor in the Stake Presidency, Stake President, Regional Representative of the Twelve, Mission President in West Virginia, and twice as a Bishop. He and DonaLe served a proselyting mission in Granada, Spain. He was a Sealer in the Oakland California and Mt. Timpanogos Utah Temples. He served as president of the Sonoma-Mendocino California Boy Scouts of America and received the Silver Beaver Award. He regarded as the greatest accomplishment of his life, his celestial marriage to his beloved DonaLe and the noble family they raised. He is survived by his wife of 66 years, DonaLe and their seven children: Sidney R. (Joyce) Henderson, Dora Louise (Richard) Hunter, Dean (Pam) Henderson, David (Stacy) Henderson, Thadeus (Maria) Baldwin, Carl (Kirsten) Henderson, and Jeffrey (Cindy) Henderson. He is also survived by 27 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren. His brothers, Ralph Henderson, Boyd Henderson, and his sisters, Ann Atkinson and Joyce Sainsbury also survive him. His parents, his brothers, Louis Henderson and Dean Henderson and his sister Helen Passey preceded him in death. We, his children, pay special tribute to our mother for the selfless, happy way she cared for Dad. We also wish to thank the kind and professional caregivers of hospice. Funeral services will be held Friday July 22, 2011 at 12 noon at the Cascade 5th Ward on 1060 East 200 North, Orem Utah. Friends may call Thursday evening July 21 from 6-8 p.m. at the Walker Sanderson Funeral Home, 646 East 800 North, Orem, Utah, and from 10:30 11:30 a.m. prior to the funeral service at the Cascade 5th Ward building. Following the service, interment will take place in the East Lawn Cemetery in Provo, Utah, with full military honors. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.walkerfamilymortuary.comK