Thursday, February 9, 2023
Henry was an integral part of the social group that ran around together in Houston during our junior high and high school days. He was the most playful, good humored one of us all. Although I left Houston to go off to college and never permanently returned, some of my family and old friends there periodically updated me on his doings.
The last time I saw Henry in person (some 10 years ago or so) was when I was living in Pennsylvania and he was passing through en route to NYC (I think it was) to see his daughter. We had lunch together in a pub in Bucks County and spent a couple of hours chatting about old times and then-current family and old friends. Henry was pretty much exactly as I remembered him from our high school days: full of laughter, fun, and joking around. I was surprised to hear that he had a liver transplant some years earlier….surprised because his joviality and interactional fullness of heart did not suggest the slightest concern about himself. In my experience, he was unique and a treasure to have had as a friend.
During the past year, we had a kind of media exchange monthly by zoom organized by my cousin Armand and several others of our old buddies. In spite of the age-related changes to all of our physiognomies and appearance, Henry's laughter and good humor identified him instantly as who he always was. He will not be forgotten....in fact, just the opposite.
Doug Shapiro
