[Dorr] Michael Henderson ’69

[Dorr] Michael Henderson, Endwell, NY, died January 1, 2024.

After graduating in 1965 from Seton High in Endicott, NY, Mike enrolled at Saint Michael’s and acquired a lifelong love for Vermont along with his B.A. degree, and he served briefly on the Saint Michael’s philosophy faculty in 1981-82.

Mike enlisted in the Navy in March of 1970 and graduated from Officer Candidate School in Newport, RI, on August 3, 1972, commissioned as an Ensign. He was later promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade. In training at the Naval Reactors Facility in Idaho Falls, he set a record for the shortest qualifying time as a nuclear reactor operator for a key submarine reactor type.

From 1977 to 1981, Mike completed the coursework for a doctorate in philosophy at Marquette University in Milwaukee where he met Louise Kirby; the two married in August 1981. For the 1981-82 academic year, Mike taught philosophy at Saint Michael’s.

Following that, from 1983 until his retirement in 2002 at age 55, Mike maintained IBM mainframe computer operating systems for National Life Insurance Company of Vermont in Montpelier.

Mike was a kind and gentle home-loving individual who also had a love of hunting and the outdoors. He was a master woodworker who built his own two-story fieldstone barn and a wine press almost too lovely to use. His life was enriched by a series of pet cats to whom he was devoted.

He returned to Endwell, New York in 2007 and was a devoted caregiver for his mother during her long decline until her death in 2018.

Mike is survived by his wife, Louise Kirby, and a brother.