10/26/2004 - Well, the last few weeks have not been the best for Ocean Bay Chapter’s Charter Members; first Asa Hall and now Sheldon Henderson.
Where do I start - to most of us, who knew Sheldon, he was affectionately known as “The Godfather” and that he was! He was the backbone and nucleus in getting Ocean Bay started. He was there in the mid 1960’s on the lawn of the Larz Anderson Museum (Museum of Transportation) soliciting Studebaker owners to come and join this newly formed chapter of the Studebaker Drivers Club then chartered as the Massachusetts/Rhode Island Chapter.
|
... |
 |
I first met Sheldon in the spring of 1965 shortly after I purchased my 1963 Gran Turismo Hawk. A fellow Studebaker owner I had known in my town asked me one day if I knew anything about the Studebaker Drivers Club and this guy who lived in Roslindale Massachusetts who was trying to start up a chapter of the club. He asked me to join him at the Anderson Museum one Sunday afternoon and meet this gentleman and his followers. I did, and that started a life-long friendship that has lasted until now. Sheldon took me under his wing and taught me a lot about Studebakers and helped me keep my Studebakers running over the years as he did so many other Studebaker owners.
He was the mainstay throughout all the years of the chapter, attending just about every chapter meeting there was. I have many, many fond memories of Sheldon from the early years to the present. He would sometimes show up late, because he got a little lost, but he showed up. I can remember Sheldon at so many of those Vermont meets at Mt Ascutney and at Dave and Joan Dows home. I can remember Sheldon at the York and Reedsville meets in Pennsylvania, you never knew what he was going to drive home in! I can remember him at all the Spring Kick-Off meets, we never knew what he was going to drive in with – but most likely, it was with his most recent project of the winter! I can remember him at all our Zone Meets and the International Meet Ocean Bay hosted in 1990. He was in his glory! I will always remember him and Jean here at my home for Ocean Bay’s Christmas Parties. My most recent memory of him was at this past Christmas Party when he arrived wearing a Santa’s hat, sporting a white beard. He fit the part perfectly!
Sheldon was a tall quite gentle man who to me never boasted about his past. I never knew much about him other then his love for fine cars, namely Studebakers. I also knew he enjoyed ballroom dancing even though he never said much about it to me. But there was another side of Sheldon I never knew about until a few years ago when we were talking one day and he had mentioned that the French government was planning to give him a medal for his actions in World War II. He went on to tell me that he was in the 1st Infantry Division and he had landed on Normandy Beach on D-Day. I had never heard Sheldon talk about his military career before and to find out that he landed in Normandy on D-Day was a total surprise to me.
At his funeral service, I found out that he had left for Scotland on the Queen Mary. His first action was in the invasion of North Africa. In Tunisia, his outfit fought the Foreign Legion, the Italian Army and finally the Germans. A mortar shell landed right on top of his foxhole that’s why he was always a little hard of hearing. After that he was in the Sicily invasion and helped rebuild bridges and roads. He then went back to England to prepare for D-Day. He landed on Normandy Beach at around 7:00, in the morning and then began the long fight through France. He was wounded by shrapnel along the way but was sent back to the front. His unit was also involved in The Battle of the Bulge. Soon after that he was sent back to England and assigned to the 8th Air Force as waist gunner on a B-24 bomber. His CO was Col. James Stewart (actor Jimmy Stewart).
There will never be another meeting on the lawn of the Larz Anderson Museum of Transportation Museum that I will not think of him! In recent years at Ocean Bay’s Octoberfest at the museum, Sheldon was always there when health permitted. I would always see him walking around, mingling with the crowd in his quiet way. He had that way about him. Many times he and I would stand in the middle of the museum lawn and reminisce about the old days at the museum and the members that we had known over the years. Where they were, what happened to them and of course what happened to their Studes. At this year’s Octoberfest I had that empty hollow feeling in my stomach when I did not see Sheldon out there mingling with the crowd! He was a dear friend and I will miss him ever so much!
|
5
