Obituary of Harvey W. Henry

Harvey Wilbur Henry, age 82, of Iowa City, Iowa died of pancreatic cancer on March 12, 2011 at home. It was Mr. Henry’s wish to be cremated. Mr. Henry was born on September 30, 1928 on a farm near Palmyra, Warren County, Iowa, the third child of Roy Russell Henry and Ruth Gertrude Brown Henry. He attended Moore country school through grade eight in the same building where his mother and grandfather attended school. He graduated from Indianola High School in 1946. He graduated from Iowa State College receiving a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1954 and was a member of Tau Sigma Delta, Architecture Honorary Society. He worked in the Indianola office of Architect Lester C. Langdon the last half of his Senior year of high school. After graduation from Iowa State he worked in the Waterloo, Iowa office of Architects Thorson, Thorson, and Madson assisting in the design of churches, hospitals, nursing homes, and variety of other building types. He became registered as an architect in 1958 and opened a private architectural practice in February 1960 in Cedar Falls, Iowa. He later entered into two separate architectural partnerships, one in Waterloo and the other in Iowa City, returning again to private practice in 1966. He continued this practice until 2003. During his years of practice he designed numerous churches, schools, commercial buildings, and many housing projects in Eastern Iowa. He served as Construction Management Consultant for the 1970’s restoration of Old Capitol in Iowa City. During his practice he designed many custom houses including houses for his children. He felt that the contributions of his abilities to his children and their families were his greatest accomplishments and offered him his greatest pleasure and satisfaction. Having lived on a farm as a youth, he enjoyed being out-of-doors and especially enjoyed helping with the actual construction work. He spent part of the summers of 1993 and 1994 in Germany assisting his son Martin in the construction of a house. He helped build a studio addition to his son Darrell’s home in North Carolina and he helped with the construction of various projects for his daughter Marsha’s home in Florida. Additions and remodeling projects for his daughter Denise’s homes in Mt. Pleasant, IA and Coal Valley, IL were other satisfying projects. He designed and owned several rental residential/commercial buildings including Liberty Square Apartments for the elderly in North Liberty, Iowa. For many years Mr. and Mrs. Henry managed these buildings taking pride in providing a pleasant place for others to live. Mr. Henry was a 30-year member of the American Institute of Architects and a 17-year member of the Iowa City Noon Lions Club. He was a member of the Iowa City Genealogical Society. In 2000 he became Webmaster of the ICGS website. In 2002 he became editor of the ICGS Newsletter. Mr. Henry’s final legacy and in his opinion, one of the most significant, was cataloguing, digitalizing and preserving information on one of his websites, about the 13,000 gravesites in the IOOF cemetery in Indianola. Without his efforts this information may have been lost forever. On September 4, 1949 he married Gloria Jean Davis, daughter of Charles Olin Davis and Josephine John Davis, of Indianola. To them were born two sons and two daughters. Survivors include his wife Gloria; daughter Marsha and grand children Henry and Lydia; son Martin and grand daughter Carina; grand daughter Jennifer, daughter of the late son, Darrell; and daughter Denise and her husband Ronald Morton and grand children Zackary, Drew, Caitlin, and Monica. Mr. Henry was preceded in death by his son Darrell, and his son-in-law, Tenney Deane Jr. It is the wish of Harvey’s wife, Gloria that instead of flowers, donations be made to the Iowa City Hospice Services. Please make checks payable to: Iowa City Hospice 1025 Wade Street Iowa City, Iowa