Girard B. Henderson

In the 1930s, Henderson flew a Beechcraft Model 17 Staggerwing airplane for David H. McConnell, president of the California Perfume Company. The company chartered Jerry's plane to transport executives going from Philadelphia and Albany on business.[1] In 1933, Henderson opened the Henderson Motor Co., a Chrysler Dodge dealership in Suffern, New York with Kenneth Burnham, Henderson's lifelong friend. Henderson later landed a contract to truck materials for Avon from New York City to Suffern.[2]

On December 17, 1935, Henderson's mother created a holding company called the Alexander Dawson Inc. (ADI), which was named after her husband, Alexander D. Henderson Sr. The certificate of incorporation of the company was filed with the Secretary of State of Trenton, New Jersey. Ella B. Henderson, Alexander D. Henderson, and Girard B. Henderson were the directors.[3] ADI is still in existence today and is located in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In the 1970s Farrow J. Smith, president of Alexander Dawson Inc., was on the board of directors for the Alexander Trust Company located in Zurich, Switzerland.[4]

In 1940, Henderson was elected to serve on the Board of Directors for Avon Products. In his 35 years on the Board, he participated in may important, far-reaching decisions which helped shape the Company.[5]

On June 17, 1966, Time Magazine published an article about Henderson titled, "Avon Paying", which was about Henderson as a director of Avon, his investments, and his recent sale of Avon stock.[6] On July 1, 1973, Henderson appears in an article about Avon in Forbes Magazine. The article talks about Avon Products and Henderson as the biggest individual shareholder next to the founding family.[7]

Monterey Peninsula Television

In 1950, Henderson created the Alarm Corporation in Carmel, California, located on 7th and Lincoln Street, which later was changed to the Monterey Peninsula Television (MP-TV) Company. The company provided underground cable service to Carmel residents. MP-TV had its receiving antenna site on the high ground of Pebble Beach. It was the first cable system in California, and the 3rd in the country.[8]

In 1954, MP-TV moved to Monterey next to the Monterey airport. A street in Monterrey is named for Henderson called "Henderson Way".

In 1991, Ernest Gordon Pratt wrote about Henderson in his book, "Life of an Unknown Man". In the book Pratt talks about Henderson and his many adventures, including the start of the cable company in California. Pratt, Henderson, and a man by the name of Owen Patrick helped turn the Alarm Corporation into the successful Monterey Peninsula Television Company. In 1972, the company was sold to the San Francisco Chronicle Publishing Company.[9]

On June 5, 1964, Henderson married his second wife, Mary Franklin Hollingsworth (1905-1988) in Clark County, Nevada. [10]

In 1964, Henderson pioneered underground living and sponsored the Underground Home exhibit at the New York World's Fair.[11] At the height of the Cold War and fearing nuclear war or other catastrophe, Henderson built and lived in underground homes in Colorado and Las Vegas, Nevada. The home in Las Vegas is a 15,000 square foot home with magnetic doors that he built to be bomb-proof and earthquake-proof while also having creature comforts such as a swimming pool, putting green and guest house. When his friend, recording artist Johnny Mann, released At the bottom of the fair, he wrote on the back side of the album, "The first time I was in an underground home was in the Colorado Rockies under a mountaintop 9500 feet above sea level! And it was here that I met the owner, Mr. Jerry Henderson. As his guest, I soon became aware of the fantastic possibilities of underground living, and at the same time struck up a lasting personal friendship with Jerry."[12][13]

In the early 1980s, Summa Corporation, owned by the late Howard Hughes, supervised its holdings from leased office space in the Alexander Dawson building from Henderson's Alexander Dawson corporation in Las Vegas. It was perfect for security reasons, since it had two underground floors.[14]

Alexander Dawson School in Lafayette, Colorado

In 1960, Henderson created the Alexander Dawson Foundation. The Foundation is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to education.[15]

In 1980, Henderson created the Colorado Junior Republic School (CJR) on a 380 acre site near Lafayette, Colorado, as a boarding schoold for bright but troubled children who otherwise wouldn't have an opportunity for an education. The school's supporters say the "micro-economy" they have designed demonstrats to students the way American free enterprise works and teaches them how to succeed in the economy of the real world.[16]

Today, the school is called the Alexander Dawson School (ADS) and is operated under the Alexander Dawson Foundation. The school is a coeducational college preparatory day school for grades K-12.[17]

Convair 580 turbo prop airplane

Around 1977, Jerry flew an executive Convair 580 turbo prop airplane, originally built for Bethlehem Steel Corporation for corporate use. Jerry and Mary had a picture taken on the tail of their Convair 580 turbo prop airplane for a Christmas card. The stencil on the tail, which stands for "Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort". The number and letters on the tail were for Mary's name and birthday, January 23rd.[18]

Henderson had a passion for flying ever since he saw Charles Lindbergh honored for his solo flight across the Atlantic with a ticker tape parade down Broadway in NYC in 1927. This experience moved Jerry to buy an open cockpit plane and learn how to fly. He was one of the nation's earliest pilots. His pilot's license number was in the upper four digits and was signed by the surviving Wright Brothers.[1]

On September 1, 1978, Henderson invested in and was on the board of directors for Gulfstream American Corporation, a company formed by Allen Paulson, which acquired the Grumman American Aviation Corporation for $32 million and $20.5 million in preferred stock. The company, was a subsidiary of the Grumman Aerospace Corporation, that manufactured and sold the Gulfstream II executive aircraft. Gulfstream American also manufactured the Gulfstream American Hustler.[19][20] In 1980, Henderson sold his interest in Gulfstream American for approximately three times the original investment.

In 1964, Henderson got involved in the Blue Channel Seafood Company that was located in Port Royal, South Carolina due west of Lady's Island. He acquired full ownership in 1968 from Sterling Harris, the founder and president. The company did a lot of direct mail advertising of their products, which included Clam Chowder, She-Crab Soup, Oyster Stew, Crabmeat, etc.[21] The company is now owned by Bost Distributing Company Inc., in Sanford, North Carolina.

Henderson created the Dawson Yacht Corporation in Las Vegas, Nevada, as a subsidiary of Alexander Dawson, Inc. The company sold about 300 Dawson 26 boats. In the "Story of the Windship 'Prodigal', Bob Lengyel talks about a three-week journey on a Dawson 26.[22]

Henderson converted an "Air-Sea Rescue Craft," built in 1946 for the Army Air Force, into a luxurious yacht called the Roosterfish.[23]

Queenstown (New Zealand) with Lake Wakatipu

In 1975, Henderson purchased the Cecil Peak Station, near Queenstown, New Zealand on the western shore of Lake Wakatipu, from Fred "Popeye" Lucas. The only access was by boat or small airplane. The name came from the Cecil Peak mountain in the Wakatipu Basin. The station covered 34,000 acres and had 10,000 sheep, 1,000 cattle, and 200 red deer.

The Cecil Peak station became a tourist attraction offering tours twice a day. During the 1964–65 summer season 13,000 people visited the station. Henderson sold the property in 1986.[24][25]

Henderson attended the Storm King School from 1916-1923, graduating in the class of 1923. He was impressed with the school and later gave gifts for school buildings and educational programs. In 1981, Henderson provided a significant grant that launched the Henderson Outdoor Recreation Program at the Storm King School in New York. Activities offered to the students and faculty include hiking, scientific trips, canoeing, rock climbing, first aid, and outdoor photography.[26]

In 1981, Henderson self-published the book Turn the Clock Back Sam, which presented his libertarian ideas about having less federal government and raising fewer taxes. Henderson's friend, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, wrote the foreword to the book.[27] In his book, Henderson wrote:

People prosper when they are free and deteriorate when they surrender to a powerful government. I have watched our country change over the last 70 years. The unmistakable drift in this country is toward a stronger central government, more and more taxes and above all, less freedom. The sole role of a legitimate democratic government founded upon 'natural law' is to provide for common activities, such as defense, police, and court, that individuals cannot easily provide for themselves.[27]