By:  Galloway                                          S.R. No. 820
    1-1                           SENATE RESOLUTION
    1-2                               In Memory
    1-3                                  of
    1-4                     The Honorable Dempsie Henley
    1-5        WHEREAS, Citizens in all walks of life were greatly
    1-6  saddened by the death on April 16, 1995, of former Liberty County
    1-7  Judge Dempsie Henley at age 71; and
    1-8        WHEREAS, Mr. Henley was a man of such gifted character,
    1-9  who attained so many distinguished accomplishments, that in
   1-10  his own person he represented a whole chapter in the history of
   1-11  Liberty County; he was born on May 30, 1923, in a two-room shack
   1-12  at the edge of the Big Thicket, on land that was part of a Mexican
   1-13  land grant to his great-great-grandfather in 1836; large in stature,
   1-14  standing 6'6", by the end of his career he had proved himself a
   1-15  giant of leadership; and
   1-16        WHEREAS, Judge Henley served four terms as Mayor of Liberty
   1-17  before becoming county judge for 16 years; he also served as
   1-18  president of the Big Thicket Association which strove with powerful
   1-19  timber companies to create an 84,000-acre national preserve; out of
   1-20  that struggle to preserve a part of Texas heritage, he wrote two
   1-21  books, The Big Thicket Story and The Murder of Silence; as a
   1-22  further result of his endeavors, he discovered the plight of the
   1-23  Alabama-Coushatta Indians and persuaded Governor John Connally to
    2-1  create the Texas Indian Affairs Commission; he served for 13 years
    2-2  as chairman of that commission, helping the development of the Tigua
    2-3  and the Kickapoo tribes, as well as the Alabama-Coushattas; and
    2-4        WHEREAS, In World War II, Mr. Henley became the Army's
    2-5  youngest first sergeant and earned a battlefield commission as a
    2-6  second lieutenant; and
    2-7        WHEREAS, He married the lovely Pat Emanuel of Romayor, Texas,
    2-8  and the happy couple raised a fine family; they worshipped at the
    2-9  First Baptist Church; and
   2-10        WHEREAS, He also devoted himself to saving the failing
   2-11  Kersting Memorial Hospital and to expanding and streamlining health
   2-12  care for all citizens and in bettering all government services; and
   2-13        WHEREAS, He was the recipient of innumerable awards, as well
   2-14  as becoming the subject of many folklore stories; now, therefore,
   2-15  be it
   2-16        RESOLVED, That the Senate of the State of Texas,
   2-17  74th Legislature, hereby extend most sincere condolences to his
   2-18  wife, Pat Emanuel Henley; his son, Scott Henley; his daughters,
   2-19  Jerry Henley, Holly Henley, and Jade Morris; his brother-in-law
   2-20  and sister-in-law, Bill and Ouida Cauthorn; his half-brother,
   2-21  Buck Henley; and his six grandchildren; and, be it further
   2-22        RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be prepared for his
   2-23  family as an expression of deepest sympathy from the Texas Senate,
   2-24  and that when the Senate adjourns this day, it do so in memory of
   2-25  Dempsie Henley.
    3-1                               ______________________________________
    3-2                                      President of the Senate
    3-3                                    I hereby certify that the above
    3-4                               Resolution was adopted by the Senate
    3-5                               on April 26, 1995, by a rising vote.
    3-6                               ______________________________________
    3-7                                      Secretary of the Senate
    3-8                               ______________________________________
    3-9                                        Member, Texas Senate