John Arthur Henderson, M.D.
1923-2008
Life Member John Henderson, M.D., 85, a retired Air Force Flight surgeon and general surgeon from Asheville, N.C., died on Aug. 31, 2008. He was born in Leland, Ill., to Dorothea and Melvin Henderson. He graduated with honors from the University of Illinois College of Medicine at age 21 in 1945. He was certified by the American Board of Surgery and was a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. After serving in the United States Air Force for 31 years, he retired in 1972 at the rank of colonel. He was stationed in England, Spain and Japan, and various states. Following his retirement from the military, Dr. Henderson practiced general surgery in Asheville. He was Chief of Staff at St. Joseph ’ s Hospital and Chief of Surgical Services at St. Joseph ’ s and Memorial Mission Hospitals. He assisted other surgeons until 2006 and served as a Buncombe County Medical Examiner until the time of his death.
His volunteer service included being medical director of Planned Parenthood, the Health Adventure, the Policemen ’ s Pension Board, and the American Red Cross Medical Advisory Committee.
Dr. Henderson wrote three books: God.com, A Deity for the New Millennium, Fear Faith Fact Fantasy, and Judging God.
He was a member of the FFRF Board of Directors. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Ruth, also a Foundation Lifetime Member and Board Member, three children, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Military services will be held at 9 a.m. Tues., Nov. 18, 2008, at Arlington National Cemetery.
Dr. Henderson had been a speaker at the Lake Hypatia 4th of July celebration and at many other freethought events.
Jean Christensen
1931-2008
Foundation member Jean Christensen of Litchfield, Minn., died on Sept. 9 at age 77 after a four-year battle with cancer. She and her husband, Bruce, who survives her, have been members of the Freedom From Religion Foundation for eight years. Jean was born on March 24, 1931, in Minneapolis. She earned degrees in elementary education from Grand View College and St. Cloud Teachers College (now University). She taught in public schools for many years. After owning and operating two stores in Willmar for six years, she did substitute teaching. In her retirement she became a Master Gardener and gave many hours of volunteer service, teaching gardening in community education and working on the planning committee and in the flower beds of the Anderson Garden in Litchfield.
The memorial service and burial took place at Acacia in Mendota Heights on Sept. 16, with Humanist celebrant Paul Heffron officiating. Jean planned her own memorial service. The wonderful aspirations expressed in her humanistic statement were exemplified in Jean ’ s life, said Paul, who recalled her as a caring, giving, creative and freethinking person. Jean ’ s children and grandchildren were the joy of her life.
Jean once questioned whether it was proper for Community Education in Litchfield to sponsor and bear the expenses for the annual, public performance of an Easter Cantata. She received help fromAnnie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Foundation, who wrote a letter addressing the situation. As a result, the sponsorship and expenses were appropriately shifted to the Litchfield Ministerial Association. Foundation staff sends condolences to Jean ’ s husband, Bruce Christensen, and thanks to Paul Heffron for the obituary information.
Corelli Nelson Shoup
1904-2008
Corelli Nelson Shoup, FFRF ’ s first centenarian Life Member, died at the age of 104 on Sept. 24 in Stevens Point, Wis. She was born on Aug. 8, 1904, in Henning, Minn., daughter of William and Annie Peterson Nelson. Her mother was an outspoken feminist and freethinker, her father a traveling grocery salesman. Unorthodox and unchurched, the Nelsons began to feel negative social pressure from their small community in Henning when war was declared in 1917, and moved to Minneapolis. They joined the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis, then under the leadership of the great humanist minister, John Dietrich.
Corelli, the first woman elected to the university debate team, received a BA in speech and debate from the University of Minnesota in 1927. She married her classmate, George L. Shoup, in 1929, and taught high school English for several years in Bensonville, Ill., prior to moving to Oak Park, in 1937, where they raised three sons. Her son, Stefan, and his wife Jane, and their two daughters are all Lifetime Members of the Foundation.
Corelli taught English in suburban Chicago public schools for many years and also at Morton Junior College. She was self-employed as a public speaker, giving dramatic poetry readings and book reviews to considerable acclaim for book clubs and civic groups throughout the Chicago area for many years.
She and her family lived in Oak Park for more than 50 years. In retirement, Corelli and George Shoup operated a fruit farm near Dowagiac, Mich., with the help of Stefan and Jane. They sold their home in Oak Park in 1987 and moved to a retirement community in Merrillville, Ind., where they lived for 15 years until George ’ s death at 95 in 2002. They celebrated their 72nd wedding anniversary in 2001. In April 2002, Corelli moved to Wellington Place, an assisted living facility in Stevens Point, Wis., to be closer to Stefan and Jane.
Corelli was a passionate lover of poetry throughout her life. One of her favorite poets was Sara Teasdale:
Leaves
One by one, like leaves from a tree
All my faiths have forsaken me;
But the stars above my head
Burn in white and delicate red,
And beneath my feet the earth
Brings the sturdy grass to birth.
I who was content to be
But a silken-singing tree,
But a rustle of delight
In the wistful heart of night-
I have lost the leaves that knew
Touch of rain and weight of dew,
Blinded by a leafy crown
I looked neither up nor down-
But the little leaves that die
Have left me room to see the sky;
Now for the first time I know
Stars above and earth below.
