J C Hensley

Memorial services for J C Hensley are scheduled for Thursday, February 26, at 2:00 pm at Darling-Mouser Funeral Home in Brownsville. Entombment will follow to Buena Vista Burial Park. Military Honors will be conducted at the mausoleum by the VFW Post 2035 under the direction of District Commander Luis Lucio.

J C was born on December 16, 1926 in Snyder, OK and died on Monday, February 23, 2009 in Brownsville, TX which had been his home for the last 25 years.

J C joined the U. S. Navy when he was 17 years old and served his country during World War II as a First Class Boiler Technician. He was stationed on an oil tanker that serviced U. S. ships during combat in the Pacific. His ship was home ported and operated out of Shanghai, China. He used his engineering training and skills to begin his 20 year career with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He quickly rose through the ranks of the prison system to become the youngest assistant chief engineer at the Leavenworth Federal Prison in Leavenworth, Kansas. After only 9 months at that assignment, he became the youngest chief engineer assigned to the Seagoville Federal Correctional Institution in Seagoville, TX. He also held positions as chief engineer at Terre Haute, Indiana, El Paso, Texas and McNeil Island, Washington. He retired in 1977 to Redmond, Oregon where he personally built a 2 bedroom cedar log cabin with the help of family and friends. After 3 years in Oregon, J C and his first wife, Mada, sold their home and began traveling throughout the US in a recreational vehicle.

J C was preceded in death by his parents, Claude and Lillie Mae Dishman Hensley, and Mada Hensley, the mother of Charles, Elvin and Marie. He is survived by his wife, Vilma, sisters, Dorotha McGee, Margie Mairs, Bobbie Chrysler, and Doris Gwen Talbot; sons, Charles and wife Connie of Houston, Elvin and wife Ellen of Leeds, Utah; daughters, Marie Melton and husband Larry of Othello, Washington and Lucrecia Fernandez and husband Juan of Houston, 15 grandchildren , 11 great-grandchildren and two more expected this year and several nephews and nieces.
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