HENLEY, LAURETTE HENRIETTE LEONIE GHISLAINE - Ouachita County, Arkansas | LAURETTE HENRIETTE LEONIE GHISLAINE HENLEY - Arkansas Gravestone Photos

Laurette Henriette Leonie Ghislaine HENLEY

Memorial Park Cemetery
Ouachita County,
Arkansas

James
August 13, 1921 - March 24, 2009

Laurette
November 15, 1925 - November 26, 2011

Laurette Henriette Leonie Ghislaine Mathieu Henley died Saturday, November 26, 2011 in Houston, Texas. She was 86 years old. She was born November 15, 1925, in Namur, Belgium, the daughter of Walthere and Yvonne Mathieu. Her parents and her sister, Lucy Bruylandt preceded her in death.
Laurette was fifteen years old when the Nazis invaded and occupied Belgium, and her hometown of Liege. She recalled how she and others in her class would try to hide their Jewish schoolmates when the Nazi soldiers came to take them from their school, never to return. Her dream was to study medicine at the Universite de Liege, but her studies were interrupted as the Nazis closed universities across Europe. She never forgot her courageous professors who risked their lives to continue to teach their students in secret locations. She saw Nazi storm troopers vandalize and burn Jewish stores and businesses. She felt the shame of her Jewish friends and neighbors, forced to wear the yellow star of David on their clothing, subjected to random beatings and humiliation by the Nazis. After the war, she traveled to the Nazi concentration camps and saw firsthand where millions had been tortured and killed.
As a witness to the brutalities and atrocities of war, she came away with a core belief that God has created every man, and that it is the responsibility of all good people to see that everyone is treated with dignity and respect, to stand up for what is right. In the words of Edmund Burke, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” Beyond all of her later influences, her experiences during the war gave her an inner core of strength that she would use to help others, and which would become a prized legacy of her children and grandchildren.
During the war, Laurette met and married a young American soldier, James Berk Henley, from Reader, Arkansas. They were married for sixty four years, until James preceded her in death. They settled and raised seven children in Camden, Arkansas. Laurette finished her degree in nursing at Southern State University in Magnolia, Arkansas, with high honors, and worked as a Registered Nurse at Ouachita County Medical Center for over twenty years. There she developed one of the first in-patient hospice wings in the state of Arkansas, where she was a source of strength and compassion for her patients and their families.
There is no doubt that for Laurette, and for her family, her greatest accomplishment was as “Mother.” Laurette’s children could tell her anything, because they knew she was with them. As a mother, she had a way of loving that gave her children firm ground beneath their feet, love unbreakable and unconditional. No matter what the circumstance, others drew courage from Laurette’s strength and calm: she knew who she was, and was generous and kind and let others know that she accepted them just as they were. Laurette always stood up for the weak, the one who had no voice, and would not tolerate a bully. She was heroic.
She is survived by her seven children; Danielle Dickinson, and her husband, Bob of Chidester, Arkansas; James B. Henley, Jr. of Houston, Texas, Bill Henley of Little Rock, Arkansas; Susan McDougal of Camden, Arkansas; Paula Cochrane of Houston, Texas, David Henley and his wife Belinda of Houston, Texas, John Henley and his wife Royce Anne of Houston, Texas and by her sister, Liliane Mathieu Mormont, and her husband Noel of Domessargues, France,
She is survived by fourteen loving grandchildren; Michelle Starr, Jason Dickinson, John Thomas Henley , Brian Henley, Ben Henley, Virginia Wietecha, David Cochrane, Jr., Brandt Henley, David Henley, Kristyna Gleghorn, Karlee Gleghorn, Walt Henley, Eli Henley, and Luke Henley, and eleven great grandchildren; Laine, Heath, Bailey, who preceded her in death, Taylor, Nicolas , Brayden, Burke, Brianna, Boone, Danielle, Nate, and Emma. She awaited the birth of her first great, great grandchild, Mason. Also, a loving niece, Pilout Herion, and nephews, Bernard and Benoit Raskin.
Visitation will be at Proctor Funeral Home in Camden at 6:00 p.m., Monday, November 28, 2011. A graveside service will be held at Memorial Park Cemetery in Camden at 1:00 p.m., Tuesday, November 29, 2011. Proctor Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.

Contributed on 4/23/20 by debbraszymanski
Email This Contributor

Suggest a Correction

Record #: 1312348

To request a copy of this photo for your own personal use, please contact our state coordinator. If you are not a family member or the original photographer — please refrain from copying or distributing this photo to other websites.

Thank you for visiting the Arkansas Gravestone Photo Project. On this site you can upload gravestone photos, locate ancestors and perform genealogy research. If you have a relative buried in Arkansas, we encourage you to upload a digital image using our Submit a Photo page. Contributing to this genealogy archive helps family historians and genealogy researchers locate their relatives and complete their family tree.

Submitted: 4/23/20 • Approved: 4/24/20 • Last Updated: 6/29/23 • R1312348-G1312347-S3

Surnames  |  Other GPP Projects  |  Contact Us  |  Terms of Use  |  Site Map  |  Admin Login