Dorothea Henderson

It is with a heavy heart that the Henderson family shares the passing of the family matriarch, Dorothea C. Henderson on September 25, 2017. Also known as Dot or Doshy, she was named Dorothea Lorraine Collier when she was born with her identical twin, Patricia, on October 16, 1919.

The twins, Doshy and Patric, were two of six children born to Robert Collier and Marcheneil Bass Collier (Ginny). Her youngest brother, Donald (and wife, Pat) survives her and resides in Gainesville, FL.

Robert Collier was a noted author who wrote some of the earliest popular "self-help" books, including Secret of the Ages (on which the movie, "The Secret" is based), Riches Within Your Reach , The Robert Collier Letter Book , and a number of other publications. Throughout her life, Doshy was a firm believer in the message of her father expressed in those works: that one's attitude in life largely determines the outcome of the challenges that confront us - the power of positive thinking! Some of Doshy's favorite memories were of working in Robert Collier's Times Square office in Manhattan for his publishing company and mail order house.

Growing up in Philipse Manor in Tarrytown, New York, Doshy and her sister, Patric, were exceptional tennis players, and dominated many of the tournaments in which they competed, from Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Tarrytown to their winter home in Sarasota, FL. They often found themselves playing against each other in the tournament finals, with many in the crowd having difficulty telling the two identical twins apart (as did a few of their "boyfriends" along the way - they were a bit mischievous!)

Doshy married the true love of her life, Allen Robert Henderson, on July 26, 1941 in Tarrytown, NY, and together they had four sons: Allen Gordon (Kip), Craig Stuart (died at 2 mos. of age), Wayne Stuart and Steven Scott.

Recalling in her "Memoirs", Doshy wrote of the late 1930s and early 1940s:

".... Life grew a little bit rougher as the years progressed, mostly because of the looming war. We were a part of a wonderful group of teenagers who thoroughly enjoyed the tennis, golf, dancing, swimming, get-togethers at the Sleepy Hollow Country Club, and several of our good friends did not survive the 1940s, but are fondly remembered.

That was the era when my romance with Allen Robert Henderson really blossomed. He had been one of our "group" for several years, was a good tennis player, golfer, a wonderful dancer, bridge player, and fun to be around, a budding lawyer having just passed the bar exams, and well liked by all...."

After Allen entered the US Army during World War II (he deployed as a "buck private" in August 1943; his Unit went into Normandy on D+10; he rose to the rank of Colonel, Regular Army, before he died in 1964), Dot embraced military life with pride, honor, and enthusiasm. After Allen was commissioned as an officer in the Judge Advocate General (JAG) corps in June 1945, Dot became very active in the Officer's Wives Club, as a Grey Lady volunteer at the Post hospitals and in the many other "protocol" activities expected of the wife of the Post's JAG commander. She deeply loved the "pomp and circumstance" of Army life. Allen's duty assignments took the family to Washington, DC (where he served at the Pentagon on the Clemency and Parole Board), to Bremerhaven, Germany (where he was the Staff Judge Advocate for the Army Port of Embarkation), to Ft. McPherson, GA, Valley Forge, PA, Ft. Dix, NJ, and finally to Colorado Springs, CO as Staff Judge Advocate for ARADCOM (Army Air Defense Command which covered the Nike missile bases).

Following Allen's untimely death in 1964 at age 54, Doshy put her father's teachings to work as she raised her three boys as a single mom. She returned to Ft. Dix and worked as secretary to the Walson Army Hospital's commander in order to put the boys through private schools and college. In 1967 she joined her sister, Patric, in Florida where they both worked at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral during the height of the Space Program. Doshy worked as Executive Secretary of Program Control until her retirement in the early 1980s, when she moved to Colorado to be closer to her family.

Throughout their lives, Doshy and Patric continued to play competitive tennis at a very high level. In her "Memoirs", Doshy noted, "We also pursued tennis, too, as Pat and I played and won at the Pan Am Tennis Tournament held at the John Gardner Tennis Ranch in Texas one year. A good time!" In Colorado, Doshy competed every year from 1983 to 1996 in singles and doubles. She won the Colorado State Senior Open 9 times (5 in singles, 4 in doubles) and was runner-up 8 times (3 in singles, 5 in doubles); she won the Pepsi Center Senior City Open tournament 5 times and was runner-up once; and she won the Ted Swenson Super Senior Tournament 3 times and was runner-up once. She also played in the Ken Caryl "A" League, winning singles 5 times and finishing runner-up twice. To say that she loved tennis and was exceptionally good at it is an understatement. Had she had the opportunity, she could well have had a professional career, particularly when paired with her equally-talented identical twin sister!

What Doshy loved most, however, was her "family". Her wish for any holiday, for any planned event, was just "to have family together". It was the greatest gift any of us could provide her and we did our best to do that as often as busy schedules and geographic separation allowed.

Doshy also loved golf and played that sport quite well, too. The family coined "The Doshy Cup" in 1999 for Doshy's 80th birthday and the inaugural event was held on Kiawah Island in South Carolina; she won it (sorta)! It has been an annual family event ever since. No doubt her lengthy history in competitive sports kept her going strong for so many years. With a smile that would melt your heart, and eyes the color of turquoise, she was one of the kindest and most loving and giving persons we've ever known. She remained a favorite of the nursing staff at Mill Vista Lodge, the Skilled Nursing Facility at Wind Crest, until her passing, only 3 weeks short of her 98th birthday.

Words cannot convey how much we miss her, but we continue to marvel at the amazing life she led, the lessons she imparted and the example she set for us. We love you, Mom; we'll never forget you and we'll do our "level best" (as you liked to say) to honor you in our lives always.