Henderson, Jerry, 1905-1983

Girard Brown Henderson, better known as Jerry Henderson, was born on February 25, 1905 in Brooklyn, New York to Ella M. Brown and her husband, Alexander D. Henderson. His family later moved to Suffern, New York, after a family house was built there sometime after 1910. Jerry lived there with his family until his marriage to Theodora Gregson Huntington on February 14, 1927. The couple had a daughter and a son Theodora G and Daniel. Prior to the Great Depression, Jerry had worked at a brokerage firm in New Jersey, but after the Depression, he worked selling life insurance for Phoenix Mutual. In his spare time, he taught himself to fly airplanes. He was able to transition this into a chartered plane service as well as a trucking company, Alexander Dawson Inc. (ADI), that hauled materials for Avon from New York City to their factory in Suffern. This relationship would eventually lead to Jerry to be elected to Avon's board of directors, which he would serve on for thirty-five years.

In 1945, Jerry and his family moved to Carmel, California. In 1960, he divorced his wife Theodora. He remarried in 1964 to Mary Hollingsworth. That same year, he had an underground house built into his Boulder, Colorado property which sparked his interest and enthusiasm for underground homes. In 1969, he moved his business headquarters from New Jersey to Las Vegas, Nevada and built a home that was partially underground. That home went on to become the offices for ADI and Jerry and his wife had another underground home built in Las Vegas in 1978. He retired from the Avon Board of Directors on December 31, 1975 and he died in his underground home in 1983.

Source:

Girard Brown Henderson. Henderson Family Tree, September 2, 2020. http://hendersonfamilytree.com/Jerry/Jerry.html.