Shirley Emma Pullen Henderson, wife of the late Bobby Henderson and matriarch of the only hardware store within miles of French Camp, died on Saturday, April 16, from natural causes. She was 85. Visitation will be 11 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at French Camp Baptist Church in French Camp, MS. A service will immediately follow at 1:00 p.m. Interment will be at French Camp Cemetery.
The youngest of seven siblings, six girls and one lone brother, Shirley Emma was a Steel Magnolia. She was born in French Camp to a farmer father and since her mom died when she was young, her dad remarried and moved the family to the Delta. It wasn’t long until her dad moved the family back to French Camp where Shirley would meet Bobby Henderson. Shirley spent a lifetime as a dedicated business and life partner to Bobby, a committed mom to Bobby Gene, a doting grandma and aunt to many, and a treasured friend, especially to Marianne Castle.
Shirley and Bobby first met in school at French Camp Academy and were married in 1955. After Bobby logged for a few years, the couple bought a cafe in McCool right across from Percy Rainey’s shop. After a few years having the cafe, Shirley and Bobby bought the Standard Oil service station in French Camp. It was around 1970 when they bought the lot and building from JJ Fair, right across the street from the service station, and in 1981, Bobby Gene would open a small hardware store right next door.
That decades-old family-run local hardware and auto parts store was Shirley Emma’s favorite place to be. Ms. Shirley loved the store, and she was good at it because she knew how to talk. She was no busybody, just genuinely interested in the lives and families of every person who walked into that auto parts and hardware store. She took seriously the duty of making you feel welcome and often folks would come into the store not needing too much, just wanting to visit with Ms. Shirley. That was her gift and life’s delight.
Involved, supportive, and fiercely loyal, Shirley’s first question was what could she get you. She always asked if you needed more, always asked about your folks, always did everything that needed to get done, without much to do about it, without demanding anything or complaining. She rarely wavered in her resolve to live as she always has, waking up, rolling out biscuits, getting ready for a day of sitting up at the store and greeting everyone who walked in, and reminding you, anytime you went headed for the day, to be sweet.
Ms. Shirley is preceded in death by her husband, Bobby Henderson; her parents, Lonnie and Henrietta Pullen; and siblings Wardine (Woody) Wingo, Ila (Bennie) Knott, Joy (Fred) Channel, Maxine (Jack) Ward, and Denton (Irene) Pullen.
Ms. Shirley is survived by her son, Bobby Gene (Jan) Henderson of French Camp, MS; grandsons, Bo Henderson and Grady (Mollee) Henderson of French Camp, MS, granddaughter Emily Henderson of Jackson, MS; great grands Madison, Edie, Hudson, Lydia, and Heidi; sister, Dale Johnson of Birmingham, AL, and a whole host of nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to French Camp Academy or French Camp Cemetery Fund.
Oliver Funeral Home of Winona is in charge of arrangements. An online guestbook may be signed at www.ofhwinona.com.
Paid Obituary.
