June 25, 2008  

WATERTOWN, N.Y.  —  Gladys E. Henderson, 80, formerly of 432 Glenn Ave., Watertown, died June 24, 2008 at the Carthage Area Hospital. Mrs. Henderson had been a resident at the Country Manor Nursing & Rehabilitation Centre in Carthage since October 2006.

Calling hours will be 10 a.m. to noon Friday, June 27, at the Hart & Bruce Funeral Home, Watertown. The funeral service will follow at noon at the funeral home. Burial will take place in the Black River Cemetery. 

Born Jan. 17, 1928, in Black River, daughter of Lynn B. & Ina M. Carey Scott, she attended Carthage High School.

Following school she worked in the laundry department at Pine Camp from 1944 to 1946. She worked at Gilbert’s Laundry Service in Carthage from 1947 to 1950.

She married Vern V. Leeder on May 4, 1947, at the Black River Baptist Church, with the Rev. Delbert Krooswyk officiating. The couple resided in Carthage, where Mr. Leeder worked for the New York Central Railroad Co. for several years. He died Oct. 25, 1950, from a hunting accident.

Following his death, she worked at Crown’s Zellerbach in Carthage as a production worker, now known as James River Co.

She married Donald E. Florentine, of Watertown, on June 7, 1952, in Plattsburgh. The marriage was annulled in 1957.

She then moved to Syracuse, working at various laundry services in the Syracuse area, until 1962. While residing in Syracuse she married William L. Henderson, of Marietta, on May 7, 1962, in Toledo, Ohio. The couple resided in Syracuse for a year, where she worked in the circulation department at the Post Standard. Her marriage to William Henderson ended in divorce in 1979.

Mrs. Henderson returned to the Carthage are in 1967 and worked for the Methodist Church and the Carthage Elementary School doing secretarial duties and was a lunch monitor. She returned to Syracuse in 1967 and worked at the Delavin Warehouse Center as a secretary-receptionist. She then attended Pauline's School of Cosmetology in Syracuse and graduated in 1970. She returned to Black River in 1970 and owned and operated Shady Pines Beauty Shoppe until 1974. She continued cosmetology, going to different homes for beauty and hair services until 1985.

She attended JCC in 1975 and received an associates degree in criminal justice. She then attended Oswego State University in 1977 and graduated in 1979 with a bachelor's degree in public justice. 

Mrs. Henderson worked for the state Department of Environmental Conservation in 1979 as a typist. In 1980, she worked for Jefferson County Department of Social Services as a social welfare examiner until she retired in 1990. 

She resided in Watertown and was a Sunday School teacher at the Watertown Baptist Church on the Black River Road for several years.

Among her survivors are a daughter and son in law, Linda and Darrell McCarthy, Black River; a son, Thomas Leeder, Carthage; three brothers and two sister-in-law, Grant B. and Marcia Scott, Kirkville, Justin L. Scott, Canandaigua, and Allen J. and Charlotte Scott, Harrisville; a grandson, Edward McCarthy, Pensacola, Fla.; a granddaughter and her husband, Wendy and Mark Oliver; Carthage, two great-grandchildren; several nieces and nephews.

A sister, Bonnie Arlio, and two brothers, Frederick J. and Craig O. Scott, died before her.

Mrs. Henderson enjoyed writing letters to the editor, several poems were published in several poetry anthology books, a distinguished member of the International Society of Poets, member of the American Association of Retired Person’s Union, a member of the Library of Congress, received many outstanding achievement awards from the National Library of Poetry. She was also a member of the Black River Valley Writers Club, 4 River Valley’s Historical Society, Senior Citizens Club of Gouverneur.

She received several editors choice awards from the National Library of Poetry, honorable mention from Iliad Press, The National Authors Registry. She received the International Society of Poets Merit Award in 1995. A certificate as a member in good standing in 1995-1996 recognized for support of the Society Principle’s of Pease-Education-Accomplishments- Charity-Equity.

Information provided by Hart & Bruce Funeral Home, Inc., and Newzjunky.com, Watertown, N.Y.