Jean M (MacGregor) Henderson

JEAN MACGREGOR HENDERSON, of Medford, NJ, passed away peacefully at the Medford Leas Retirement Community on August 6, 2019, at the age of 102. She was born and raised in Wheeling, WV, the eldest daughter of Dr. Delivan Alexander MacGregor and Marguerite Ethel Eastman MacGregor.

After graduating from the University of Michigan, she married Curtis Reed Henderson and settled in Chatham, NJ, where she earned a master’s in teaching from Montclair State College and taught Latin in Summit High School. When Jean and Curt later moved to Haddonfield, NJ, she taught Latin at Highland High School in Blackwood, NJ. She was faculty advisor to the American Field Service exchange-student program in Summit and later initiated that program at Highland. In retirement, she volunteered with the headquarters of the American Friends Service Committee and was responsible for communications with its employees based in Africa. In 1988, Jean and Curt moved to the Medford Leas Retirement Community, where they volunteered as court mediators and she co-founded a program to distribute excess food from Medford Leas to a nearby homeless shelter. Jean and Curt were active, long-time members of the Unitarian churches of Summit and Cherry Hill.

Jean and Curt raised four children: the late Marguerite (“JG”) Henderson Varner (Jerry Varner); Stuart Clyde Henderson (Colleen Spencer Henderson) of Bethesda, MD; Bruce MacGregor Henderson (Frances Henderson) of Newton, MA; and Paula Henderson Hogan (Quinn Hogan) of Milwaukee, WI.

She is predeceased by Curt, her husband of 64 years, as well as her subsequent long-time companion, Colgate (Coke) Prentice. She is also predeceased by two sisters: Marguerite MacGregor Ney and Patricia MacGregor Budney. She is survived by three of her four children, nine grandchildren (Curtis Varner, Peter Varner, Linh Morrison, Jack Hogan, Charlotte Hogan, Marian Hogan, Reed Hogan, Spencer Henderson, Emma Henderson), and ten great-grandchildren.

Throughout her life, Jean exhibited profound gratitude, intelligence, graciousness, and empathy in her relations with countless friends, relatives, students, and colleagues.

A memorial service will be held at the Medford Leas Retirement Community at a date to be determined. Gifts of remembrance may be made to the American Friends Service Committee (www.afsc.org).

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