June 24, 1939 – February 14, 2022

Dr. Keith Everett Henderson passed away suddenly the morning of February 14, 2022 in his home of 46 years in Friendswood, Texas.  Keith was born on June 24, 1939 in Yuma, Colorado–a small, rural community in which his family had lived for 3 generations.  His parents were Alfred and Mildred Henderson; he spent his childhood years living on his family farm.  He attended a one-room schoolhouse in Happyville, Colorado.  Keith was the first member of his family to attend college, leaving the community in which he’d grown up to attend Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colorado.  He graduated from Colorado State University in 1964, earning a B.S. in Crop Science, followed by an M.S. in Agronomy.  Upon his graduation from CSU, he began work with the United States Army, living in Yuba City, California.

Keith met his wife, Marjory (Marge) Livengood, while a Masters student at CSU.  They married on November 2, 1964, while Keith was working in the military.  After a short time working on a classified project, Keith and Marge moved to Tucson, Arizona to begin his doctoral work in Agronomy at the University of Arizona, a degree he finished in 1969.  Following his doctoral graduation in 1969, he, Marge, and their first-born son, Craig, moved to Longmont, Colorado, where he worked as an agronomist for the Great Western Sugar Company.  Following a brief stint at Great Western, the family, which now included a second son, Curtis, moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where Keith worked for the next five years with the Ford Foundation, hired by the Saudi government to develop sustainable wheat production.  This experience was hugely influential in the family’s life; in addition to adapting to a new culture, Keith and Marge met a group of Christian people from all over the world and committed to following Jesus as a part of this community.

Keith and the family moved back to the United States in 1976, when he was recruited to be a research scientist at the NASA Johnson Space Center.  He worked at NASA for 30 years, during which time he worked on interpreting satellite images, served on an investigative committee on the Challenger accident, and conducted agricultural research that would support long-term space travel.

Keith was a student of the Bible, a craftsman, and could fix just about anything he laid his hands on, something held over from his days growing up on a farm.  He did marvelous things with wood, refurbishing any type of furniture.  Some of this work was done for the Hope Village home for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  Keith was a founding member of Heritage Park Baptist Church in 1977.  Keith and Marge were the first two members baptized in the church, and his life is marked by service there, serving as a deacon and teaching a men’s Sunday School class for many years.  Keith loved his family and experienced special delight in his grandchildren, each of whom recall the tenderness and humor he brought to the conversations he had with them.  He had a fine sense of humor and enjoyed laughing with friends and family.

He is proceeded in death by his parents, Alfred and Mildred Henderson. He is survived by his wife, Marjory and his two children: Craig, wife Susan, and grandchildren Calvin and Lydia;  Curtis, wife Tracie, and grandchildren, Mackenzie and Emily.  He is also survived by his siblings, sister Nadine Strawn of Elberta, Alabama, and brother Dale Henderson of Minneapolis, Kansas.

A visitation will be held on Friday, February 18, from 5-7pm at Jeter Memorial Funeral Home, 311 North Friendswood Drive, Friendswood, Texas, 77546.  The funeral service will be held at 10:00 am February19 at Heritage Park Baptist Church, 2732 FM 528, Webster, Texas, 77598.  If so moved, the family would request donations to support the resettling of Afghan refugees in Southeast Houston through the Heritage Park Baptist Church: www.heritagepark.org/give.  Please specify the Afghan Newcomer Initiative.