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Carroll Henshaw Hendrickson Jr. ’42

A picture of Carroll Hendrickson

Carroll Henshaw Hendrickson Jr. ’42, September 3, 2013, in Frederick, Maryland. Carroll grew up in Frederick, in the county where his family had resided since the early 1700s. After attending public schools in town, Carroll went to Beacon School in Massachusetts and then came to Reed. Financial support for his first year came from his uncle Hunt Hendrickson, father of Ames B. Hendrickson ’48, who lived in Portland, and who introduced Carroll to many aspects of Portland society. Carroll’s roommate was Jack Dudman ’42, and other college friends included Sam McCall ’42, his twin sister, Jean McCall Babson ’42, Florence Walls Lehman ’42, Hallie Rice ’45, and Carl Stevens ’42 [also professor of economics 1954-90]. Carroll enjoyed classes with Barry Cerf [English 1921–48] and Rex Arragon [history 1923–62; 1970–74], and worked with thesis adviser George B. Noble [political science 1922–48]. He was less interested in majoring in a subject, he confessed in an interview in 2005, and more interested in getting a good education, which he found at Reed. Carroll enjoyed the social life at the college, attending formal dances; hiking and skiing; singing with the Boar’s Head Ensemble, the Madrigals, and the Glee Club; and listening to music in Capehart. An accomplished pianist, Carroll found the venture into vocal groups very satisfying. He memorized the score of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Trial by Jury in his room in Winch, in order to perform it in spring 1942 and lose no time for work on his thesis. (Carroll played piano throughout his life, preferring duets, chamber music, show tunes, and popular music of World War II.) He also attended local concerts and opera. Through music, he became friends with Jacob Avshalomov ’43 and Doris Felde Avshalomov ’43. To earn money for college expenses past the first year, Carroll worked in the Commons at 40¢ an hour, including summers. One year, Miss Brownlie [Ann R. 1930–43] gave him the job of supervising the storage room in exchange for room and board. (“In my Navy years, I was thankful for remembering the manner in which she wrote out job descriptions and trained us. Most people don’t go to Reed for that!”) At meetings of the Young People’s Fellowship Trinity Episcopal Church in northwest Portland, Carroll became better acquainted with Margaret M. Doane ’42. After Reed, Carroll served in the U.S. Navy and sent Margie a marriage proposal from Funafuti in the Ellis Islands. They married in 1944. During the war, Carroll was engaged in a number of invasions as a watch officer and navigator in the amphibious forces in the central Pacific. (He remained in the naval reserves, retiring as a lieutenant commander.) After the war, Carroll and Margie moved to Frederick. Carroll was determined to be the sole support for his family and went to work at Hendrickson’s, “an old-fashioned, middle-of-the-road store” established in 1877 by his grandfather. He was assistant manager and buyer and assumed ownership of the store in 1967. “By that time, Hendrickson’s was the last independent store of our type in downtown Frederick.” He operated the store for 13 years and made a lot of money, he said, going out of business. Carroll did volunteer work for the archives of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, the Maryland Historical Society, the Historical Society of Frederick County, and the archives of All Saints Church in Frederick, where he also was a member of the vestry and choir and a Sunday school teacher. He assisted the Frederick city orchestra and joined the board of the Baltimore Symphony, rising to the position of board president. “All during the time I was trying to run the store, I’d also go into Baltimore to help plan the programs, until I’d gotten to know everybody on their staff, all the musicians. I got to associate with some of the best musicians in the country.” He served as director of concert development in 1980–87. In retirement, Carroll also traveled, making 17 trips to Europe and 22 transcontinental trips. When his travels concluded, he continued to drive locally, especially to the local community college, where he found books for his own “homemade” English or French courses. Carroll stayed in touch with Ames, Ellie Boettiger Seagraves ’49 and Van Seagraves ’48; he gardened, and played piano for residents in his retirement home in Frederick. Margie died in 2003 and a daughter died in 2011. Survivors include a daughter and son, three grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Appeared in Reed magazine: March 2014

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