MARGARET “PEGGY” HENRY, ASH
Remembering Mrs. Barrymore
by Ray Betzner
Peggy Henry died Sept. 8, 2017 at the age of 87. Peggy was an Irish lass who never lost her Boston accent, who could roast a goose and whip up a big enough raspberry trifle to feed nearly 40 people without breaking a sweat. Her ASH investiture of Mrs. Barrymore seemed too morose for Peggy. Those in the Holmes world who knew her kitchen talents referred to her as Mrs. Hudson, a name she carried with pride.
She was a Sherlockian by marriage. As a graduate of Regis College in the 1960s, she was writing user manuals for a new kind of electroencephalogram (EEG) machine when she met one of EEG’s national leaders, Charles E. Henry. It was love at first sight. Although separated by more than a decade, Chuck and Peggy could not imagine life without each other.
Chuck, a nascent Sherlockian when they married, introduced her to Sherlockian activities. Peggy, the more social of the two, would hunt out scions like Mrs. Hudson’s Lodgers in Chicago and The Cremona Fiddlers of Williamsburg in Virginia. They would host meetings in their homes which were always gustatory delights and fountains of friendship.
Peggy had several careers, the longest being a professional meeting and conference planner for groups like the Association of Medical Illustrators. Resort operators around the globe invited her for free tours of their resorts hoping to score a conference. She and Chuck were only too happy to go along. In fact, the two traveled the globe, literally. Like Nero Wolfe, Chuck kept a globe in his office and would twirl it and then propose a cruise or train trip to someplace new. They took a few trips to the Reichenbach in Victorian attire: Chuck as a fine gentleman with huge mustachios and Peggy in maid’s attire. (Chuck claimed they played at “The Gentleman and the Parlor Maid” to amuse others on the tour.)
Peggy was a nonstop reader, often with two or three books going at once. She never met a bookstore she didn’t love and often picked up a book or two from used bookshops“ because it looked like they could use the business.” When it came time to downsize, several dozen bags and boxes of books were donated to the Powhatan Library where Chuck was a board member.
A devout Catholic, Peggy served on numerous church committees. She brought her strong organizational and bookkeeping skills to the pastor’s aid, whether he wanted them or not.
Those same skills were invaluable in 1987 and 1990 when the Cremona Fiddlers of Williamsburg put on Holmes conferences, the first with John Bennett Shaw, the second on our own. Shaw picked the speakers for the ’87 conference, but Peggy was the brains behind the event, helping us neophytes stay financially afloat and mentally sane. She performed similar du-ties in ’90, having a grand time at the banquet when the ASHes were invited to sing their familiar songs. A fine amateur musician, she loved playing Christmas Carols for family and friends at the holidays — or in July, if the mood struck.
Chuck and Peggy had no children but parented several Golden Retrievers and one particularly independently-minded Hungarian Vizsla.
Peggy had a ready smile and a big laugh. Both faded a bit after Chuck died in 2010. She prayed the two would be reunited and planned to prepare a major dinner party first chance she got. Chuck would invite Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, while Peggy would ask Mozart to stop by. “I have a few serious questions for that man,” she said.
I hope she’s getting her answers.
