Edith Henson

Edith Scannell Henson

1913 – 2010

Edith Scannell Henson passed away December 18 in Roseville, California.  Edith was born October 3, 1913, in Petersburg, the fourth of the six children of Mr. and Mrs. A. B. Scannell.

The Scannell family moved from Petersburg to Spencer in 1922 and in 1925 to their farm four miles north of Elgin.  Edith attended St. Boniface elementary school and graduated from Elgin Public High School with the class of 1931.  She remained at the farm until 1938, when she moved to Chicago to seek employment.

While living there she met Eugene Henson, a friend of her brother George. Both were serving in the U. S. Army Air Corps at Chanute Field near Rantoul, Illinois.

Edith and Eugene were married in Elgin on November 15, 1941. Their military travels took them to Sheppard Field, Texas, Shreveport, Louisiana, Mascoutah, Illinois, the Panama Canal Zone, Riverside, California, and Omaha.  After Eugene’s retirement from the Air Force in 1967 they returned to Riverside and Edith lived there until 2006.

At that time the need for residence in a limited care facility led Edith to sell her home and move to Roseville to be near family.  She resided there until her death.

Edith is survived by her four children, Julie Ellen Sommer, Mary Jeanne Leighton (Robert), Margaret Ann Bragg (Richard), Jeffrey S. Henson (Margaret), 11 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.  Her brother, John Scannell (Viola) of Glenview Illinois also survives her.  She was preceded in death by her husband Eugene, her parents, her sisters Maria Scannell and Margaret Carey, both of Petersburg, and brothers Robert Scannell of Elgin and George Scannell of Wichita Falls Texas.

Services were held at St Catherine’s Catholic Church in Riverside, California December 29, 2010; interment was at the Riverside National Cemetery.