Many people knew Harold E. “Hod” Henderson as the founder of a masonry contracting business, but family said his greatest achievement was juggling family, friends, work and play.
“It was a life that was in balance,” said his son Ted, who, along with his siblings, heard a great deal about balance from their father.
Mr. Henderson, 82, died after undergoing a cardiac procedure Monday, Oct. 9, in Northwest Community Hospital, Arlington Heights. He and his wife, Pat, lived in Park Ridge for more than 50 years. The couple also had a residence in Boynton Beach, Fla.
Mr. Henderson was born in Evanston and grew up in Chicago, where he attended Sullivan High School. He joined the Army in 1942 and was stationed for at least part of World War II in New Guinea.
He returned to Illinois in 1946, enrolling at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on the GI Bill. After graduating in 1950, he held several jobs, including one in Danville where he met Patricia Scott.
According to Mr. Henderson’s son Bart, his father was in church attending a wedding and saw her moving to her seat.
“He leaned to a friend and said, `That’s the girl I’m going to marry,'” his son said.
They got married in 1952, and in 1955 the family moved to Park Ridge, where Mr. Henderson was selling men’s shirts–but not for long.
“He realized that working for someone else wasn’t his cup of tea,” his son said.
Mr. Henderson’s brother was a plumbing contractor and helped him get started in the masonry business.
“He went into masonry cold,” said Bart, who now runs Hodsco Construction Inc., the business his father founded in Wheeling in 1956.
The company moved to Schaumburg about three years ago and has more than 100 employees. It provides brick and block masonry services for home builders.
Mr. Henderson worked with tools during the day and on plans at night as he built his company. His sons said he was a businessman who understood the ups and downs of the Chicago-area housing market.
“He was a serious man who was a child of the Depression,” Ted said. “He saved for that rainy day.”
Loyalty went along with business for Mr. Henderson.
“He always treated everybody in the company with dignity,” said Dick Kath, who joined the company in 1956 as a laborer. Kath retired as vice president in 2000 but still works part time as an estimator.
Betty Dillhoff, a Hodsco employee, said: “Everything was done on a handshake. His son is carrying on the business in the same manner.”
In addition to his wife and two sons, survivors include a daughter, Holly Barrett, and 10 grandchildren.
Mass will be said at 10 a.m. Friday in St. Paul of the Cross Catholic Church, 320 S. Washington Ave., Park Ridge.
