Joan Karr Henson

She was the daughter of Juanita Magill Karr and Steward Karr, the sister of Anita Karr Freed and Perry McClinton. Joan was an auburn-haired beauty with green eyes. She had the gift of charm and grace. At sixteen, she was chosen to be Queen of the Bessemer Christmas Carnival.

She fell in love with John Henson, a tall, blonde, icy-blue-eyed paratrooper, who rode a motorcycle and looked like a Viking warrior. When she was seventeen and John was twenty, they married. The owner of the famous Bright Star restaurant in Bessemer said that when Joan walked in the door, every head turned.

At the dawn of the computer age, John took a job with IBM, and they moved around the country, settling for a time in Saratoga, California. They eventually returned south to be closer to family, first in New Orleans, and later back home in Alabama. Still, Joan was always California dreaming. Their marriage lasted for more than forty years. Later, she and John and his second wife Joellen attended family events together in harmony.

Joan loved theater, live music, museum exhibitions, and literary readings, but, most of all, good company. Her favorite musical was Man of La Mancha. Her favorite live band was the Grateful Dead.

Her house in Indian Springs was known as the Henson Haven for Wayward Children, where she fried chicken, baked biscuits, and offered unconditional acceptance. She listened with loving attention. She gave wise advice without judgment. Her theology was the version articulated by her dear friend Rev. Will D. Campbell: We’re all bastards, but God loves us anyway.

She and John had three children, all of whom were her favorites. The eldest, Dirk, is a stoic hard worker who spent years as corporate executive in London wearing Savile Row suits and living in a Mayfair flat. He eventually traded life at a desk for more time outdoors and with his family, now concentrated in Amelia Island, Florida. Her middle son, David, was an artist. He shared Joan’s love of California and wore a bracelet inscribed with the longitude and latitude of Big Sur. Her daughter Kristin earned a Ph.D. in English and then a J.D., which taught her to follow the rule of law. Still, she has always understood and appreciated her mother’s unconventional ways, and she wears David’s Big Sur bracelet now. In Joan’s later years, her nurturing imperative was directed to feral cats, trapping and spay/neutering at least two dozen and returning them to their colony, where she cared for them and let them live freely.

In addition to her nieces, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, whom she adored, she was also “Luma” to her “adopted” children and grandchildren, who brightened her days and gave her purpose for living even when her body was failing. Her kind and generous friends and caregivers helped her stay independent and allowed her to live as she wanted to.

A fitting epitaph for Joan, Christmas Queen, free spirit, and protector of the vulnerable, would be a line from one of her favorite songs: She wore scarlet begonias tucked into her curls. I knew right away she was not like other girls.

A celebration of life will be planned at a later date.