Fairlee, Vt. — Donald Hector Henderson died peacefully at home in Fairlee, Vermont on May 24, 2018. Born on May 6, 1924, in Berlin, N.H. to Alice Couture Henderson and Earl R. Henderson, Don graduated from Berlin High School in 1942. In the “ski troops,” the10th Mountain Division, Don moved from Colorado to Kiska to Texas to Italy, where he was wounded in Italy on April 18, 1945. After recovering from his injuries, Don enrolled at Middlebury College, graduating in 1949. In 1950 he graduated from Harvard with a Master’s in history, and he married Patricia Salmon from Stanhope, N.J. In 1951, after a year of advanced study at the University of London, Don began a teaching and coaching career at Holderness School where he taught document-based history and coached skiing and other sports until 1987. In those 36 years, Don had a Fulbright Exchange to Mo-i-Rana, Norway in 1956 and to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany in 1962. In 1963-64 Don was a coach with the U.S. Women’s Alpine Ski Team, and in 1969-70 he was the Head Coach of the U.S. Alpine Ski Team. He received a sabbatical from Holderness in 1976-77.
Since his war injuries deadened all feeling in his lower right leg, which could result in frostbite during ski season, he invented, hand sewed and patented “The Panaja Boot Muff” in 1978. Don was an avid reader, especially of anything to do with science.
Don is survived by his wife, Pat; daughter Nancy Henderson and her husband Peter Adams; son Jack Henderson and his wife Marnie Kiley Henderson, and grandchildren Jack and Kit Henderson-Adams.
Over the years, the White River Junction Veteran’s Administration and the Lyme Clinic provided superior health care for Don. He received extraordinary care from both VNH and Bayada Hospice. There will be no services.
