Ok, I have to admit that I was born in Trenton, NJ! I didn’t tell anyone until I was 25 as it was not a “southern thing” to mention in those days. Now that so many people are here from above the Mason Dixon, I guess it really doesn’t matter. I was raised in Long Creek, a small area with a Huntersville mailing address. My family has been in this area since before the Revolutionary War and are buried in Hopewell and Rama Church cemeteries. My father, Robert Otis Henderson, is a WWII veteran and his whole family is from Huntersville. His dad was a builder and constructed Huntersville Elementary School and started Huntersville Presbyterian Church before an illness stopped him. I have lots of family from the Huntersville area.
My mother, Laura Beatrice Wilson Henderson, was daughter to Adrian Hugh Wilson, the owner of Wilson Sausage Company on Beatties Ford Road. I spent a lot of my childhood smelling sage and sausage. Boy, I miss those days!
I attended Long Creek Elementary, Alexander Junior High, and North Mecklenburg along with my brother Mike and later my sister Lisa. My first day of high school, I looked over and there sitting next to me was my soon to be wife, Cathy Lawing. We dated through high school, both graduating in 1969, and married in 1970. As of now, we have been married over 40 years. I say she was really smart and I was blessed!
After some college at Central Piedmont Community College, and a few other jobs, I started with Southern Bell and worked for 13 years hanging on telephone poles, installing home and office phones. In 1983, Bell divested and the operating companies became separate entities. I went with AT&T, as they were looking towards computers and new technologies. Within 6 months, I was on the lay-off list. I applied for a management job in marketing and thank God, Mr. Guy Wilson took me on as a salesman. I got lots of sales training at the AT&T Sales School in Denver, Colorado, then returned to Charlotte and managed accounts west of Charlotte. After about 5 years of sales, I had the opportunity to move to Service Manager for Hoechst Celanese Corporation. I have several close friends from my years with them and I have to say, I really enjoyed my job. I was involved in a disaster recovery and received an “Eagle Award” for outstanding service and a letter of commendation from the CEO of AT&T, which I have always been proud of.
I was offered a job as Project Director for the North Carolina Information Network, a piece of very expensive new technology, about $157,000,000, that would link all of the major cities in North Carolina together. This was about the time that the internet was just getting started, so we were learning something every day. The project was a success and I was offered another job at AT&T as a Project Manager for Managed Network Solutions. I took the job and stayed there until my retirement from AT&T in 2004. It was a high stress job, so after about 10 years of carrying that load, I was ready to do something else.
Upon leaving AT&T, I took my licensing courses and exam for Real Estate Broker and started working for Prudential Carolinas Realty. After two years, I decided to start my own business, which I really love. No more working for the man! Except, now my wife and I work together, so I guess I am working for the woman now!
Cathy and I have three grown daughters, Aubrey, Laura, and Katie, and two son-in laws, Walt and Jake, that we are proud of. God has really blessed us with six grandchildren, Alexus, Quinn, Ben, Katelyn, Lilly, and Ava. Life is good!
We belong to Grace Covenant Church and now I spend my spare time on mission trips to Nicaragua and other foreign countries, and learning to play the banjo! We really love selling real estate and showing people why this is the best area in the world to live.
164 Ramano Drive, Iron Station, NC 28080
