Charles Brooke Henderson

Charles Henderson died at age 94 on March 31, 2023 of natural causes, with his loving family by his side at the Croasdaile Village skilled nursing facility, The Pavilion. He was pre-deceased by his wife of 65 years, Ann Henderson in February 2020, and by one grandson, Robert Charles Korecky in 2011. Charlie was born in Washington D.C. and lived in Sandy Spring, MD; Caldwell, NJ; Hobart, IN; Cambridge, MA; Alexandria and Leesburg, VA; Adamstown, MD; and Durham, NC.

He earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University and an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Charlie met Annie on a blind date at a New Year’s Eve party. The couple married at Congregational Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1954. The newlyweds moved to Alexandria, Virginia where Charlie began a career as a rocket scientist with Atlantic Research Corporation (ARC). Charlie and Ann are survived by three children: Katherine (James Korecky), Roger (Alice), and Sally, by 3 loving grandchildren and by 6 great-grandchildren.

Charlie was on several Boards of Directors including Atlantic Research Corporation, the Girl Scouts of the Greater Washington D.C. region, and Loudoun County Symphony. He remained informed of current events locally, nationally, and internationally with a voracious appetite for information, and loved traveling to interesting places in the U.S. and internationally.

Technology was his lifelong passion. He designed and oversaw many projects including solid rocket propellants and coal slurries for pipeline transport. In his career he served as Vice President of Research and Technology at ARC, and led a team of scientists, whose discoveries and innovations greatly benefitted the aerospace industry.

To be closer to family, Ann and Charlie moved to Croasdaile Village, a CCRC in Durham, NC in 2012. Charlie greatly enjoyed his years at Croasdaile Village, where he was able to live independently up until three weeks before his death. The family wishes to thank the many incredible medical team members at Croasdaile Pavilion, Home Health Services, and his wonderful neighbors for their warm friendship.