Jul. 14—James "Mack" Henderson, who committed most of his adult life to serving Marietta and the Cobb County community, died Friday.
He was 94.
Former U.S. Rep. Buddy Darden of Marietta considered Henderson, his longtime friend, exceedingly smart and friendly.
"He was an extremely competent person and never met a stranger," Darden said.
Atlanta-born, Marietta-made
Henderson, a towering figure in Cobb County civic life, began his career at Southern Bell in 1952. He first came to Cobb in December 1975 because, according to Darden, company executive and Marietta native Jasper Dorsey "personally selected Mack Henderson as the best person available in all of Southern Bell to come to Marietta.
"Of course, his choice was totally validated because Mack was an extremely popular and competent manager for the telephone company in this area," Darden said.
Henderson was with Southern Bell until his retirement from the company in 1989, where he worked his way up to become a senior manager in the Atlanta area. He was recruited to become county manager just four months after his retirement, as the county commission at the time had dismissed the previous manager, Pat Salerno, in September of 1989.
"I think he originally maybe intended to go back to DeKalb County, but he made so many friends here, and was so popular here and so well regarded that he stayed and lived out the rest of his life right here in Cobb County," Darden said.
Henderson and Darden became friends as members of the Kiwanis Club of Marietta. Darden remembered Henderson as someone who could always be trusted to keep a secret.
"He was a listener and not a talker," Darden said. "People would open up to him and tell him about things they wouldn't tell anyone else. He was trustworthy and forthcoming and his integrity was beyond question."
Born in Atlanta on April 11, 1928, Henderson grew up in West End and graduated from the Marist School in 1948 and Oglethorpe University in 1952. Prior to college, he served in the U.S. Navy as a corpsman at the Navy Medical Station in Newport, Rhode Island, from 1946 to 1948.
"I always considered Mack a mentor of mine. After my father died, Mack sort of semi-adopted me and helped me do the right thing for this community," said Wyman Pilcher, the former president of First National Bank of Cobb County, and a close friend of Henderson's. "He was quite the community servant. I knew I could always call on Mack if I ever needed anything."
When Pilcher returned to Marietta in 1978 after attending college, serving in the military and working in Atlanta, his father, Wyman Jr., introduced them.
"He treated me like a son," Pilcher said of Henderson. "He was just the best. He always had Marietta's best interests at heart."
Said Pilcher of Henderson's death, "Another timber has fallen in Cobb County, and Mack was one of those timbers. We will definitely miss him and his leadership, not only Marietta, but Cobb County."
'I can't say enough about him'
In addition to serving as Cobb County manager from 1989 to 1993, Henderson was active in health care. According to Henderson's family, he regarded a 1964 award from the Fulton County Medical Society recognizing his efforts in helping distribute the polio vaccine "his most important award." He chaired the Kennesaw State University Foundation and was a member of the Wellstar Health Foundation. The Women's Center at Wellstar is named for Henderson and his wife, Jean.
Henderson was named the 1984 Cobb County Citizen of the Year by the MDJ, a year after he founded Leadership Cobb, a selective annual leadership development program, and Honorary Commanders, which partners business and military leaders in the community with each other, while president of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce.
"We are deeply saddened by the passing of Mack Henderson," said Sharon Mason, current president and CEO of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce. "He was an instrumental leader for our county and our chamber, our community."
The chamber instituted the Mack Henderson Public Service Award in 1993, Mason said, given annually to someone who exemplifies commitment to bettering the lives of citizens of Cobb County.
Pam Younker, community development officer at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, was awarded the Henderson Public Service Award in 2019.
"I will have to say the highlight of my business career was to receive the Mack Henderson Public Service Award," Younker said. "Because I knew him, that meant everything to me. When I received the award and I held it in my lap and I looked at it and I saw his name, I thought, 'This is beyond anything I've ever gotten before.'"
Younker first met Henderson when she joined the Kiwanis Club of Marietta and, while she did not know him at the height of his business career, she had a family member who did: her brother, Marty Godfrey, who was hired by Henderson at Southern Bell out of college.
"Mack would always talk about my brother and how much he meant to him over his career," Younker said.
Younker kept in touch with Henderson even after circumstances made it difficult to see him in-person.
"When COVID hit and he couldn't get out anymore, he started deteriorating, I just started writing him and his wife a card every week or two just to encourage them," Younker said. "I can't say enough about him."
Family first
Outside of his Cobb family, Henderson was a devoted husband and father. Cary Henderson, one of his two sons, and Jaime Henderson Leonard, his only daughter, remembered him as a loving father, "firm but fair," who was wholly committed to his wife.
"One of the greatest gifts he gave all of us was his devotion to our mom," said Leonard. "That was his point of departure, was loving her and cherishing her and so he gave us that example."
Cary Henderson echoed that sentiment.
"One thing he always said was, 'Make sure your mom is taken care of,' which we kept trying to assure him that was a priority for us as well," Cary Henderson said. "She was definitely his rock."
They recalled Mack Henderson driving motorized go-karts down a neighborhood hill with other fathers, playing different sports with and coaching the children in youth leagues, and attending all of Jaime's high school basketball games and Cary's football games.
"Whatever we were doing he was always there to watch us play and help out, advise, critique," Cary Henderson said.
An avid fisher throughout his life, in his later years he found joy in watching his grandchildren fish.
"And he laughed so easily and had such a great sense of humor about things," Leonard said.
Beyond his sense of humor, Henderson's children saw in him an example of the golden rule: treat others how you want to be treated.
"Dad always said, 'You can always say hello to somebody and if they don't speak back that's OK. You made the effort. So, look them in the eye, say hello, and if they don't respond to you, you made the effort, and that's all that matters," Cary Henderson said.
Henderson and Leonard said their father constantly stressed to them to treat everyone they met with dignity and honor.
"Anybody and everybody," Cary Henderson said, "and he lived that," Leonard added.
On top of dignity and honor, there was a third dimension of Mack Henderson's approach to people.
"He was always real big on respect," his son said.
Henderson is survived by his wife, Jean Henderson, his children Jaime Henderson Leonard (Burleigh C.W. Leonard), Cary Manuel Henderson (Karen Wiggins Henderson) and Matthew Thomas "Tad" Henderson (Suzanne Pryor Henderson). His surviving grandchildren are Kristen Jean Henderson, Kyle William Henderson (Christine Smith Henderson), Jespere Grace Leonard Spencer (Reed William Spencer), Katie Faith Henderson Leonard and Rachael Claire Henderson. His surviving great-grandson is Hayes William Spencer.
Condolences can be shared with the family at the Mayes Ward-Robbins Funeral Home website. In lieu of flowers, please make contributions to The Blue Bird Trail at Friends of Green Meadows Preserve, Inc. or a charity of choice.
