James Howard Henry

A Life of Resilience & Gratitude

Born on October 29, 1928 in Mansfield, Ohio, the only child of Vaughn M. Henry and Doris T. Kallmerten Henry, Jim’s boyhood was shaped by the experiences that both farm life and town life could offer. But he remembered his most formative experience was when at age 11 his family visited the World’s Fair in New York City, and he was most inspired by the General Motors exhibit. This started a life-long love of cars.

Jim fell in love with Beverley Young at Columbus High School, and they married in 1947. With her support, he graduated from Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Industrial Design in 1950. They moved to Detroit, and later Pontiac, Michigan, where he worked 11 years for GM in design engineering. In those same years, he and Beverley had four children.

In 1959, Jim moved his young family to San Diego, California to lend his industrial design skills to the Atlas missile program as a contractor with Volt Technical Inc., work that he was especially proud of. When that contract ended, Jim moved his family to Phoenix, Arizona, for more aerospace design work with Goodyear Aerospace. However, the advent of computerized technical illustration brought an end to his industrial design career.

In 1970, Jim and Beverley moved back to San Diego, this time settling in La Mesa. He drove for Yellow Cab, and in 1985 he started his own taxi company, JB Taxi. In the 1990s, Jim and Beverley moved to Rancho Bernardo and Jim took on a third career as steward of an inheritance. In 2000, with Beverley’s passing, Jim moved back to La Mesa and joined First Presbyterian Church of El Cajon.

Jim enjoyed living independently well into old age. Jim lived the last 5 years of his life with daughter Susan in Del Mar Heights, and enjoyed frequent visits by his children and extended family. His soul was called home at age 97, January 26, 2026.