Judge Frank G. Henderson was not a stereotypical judge. Sure he passionately read law, but he also sported two tattoos and went on annual rafting trips down the Colorado River, friends and family said Tuesday.
Henderson, 50, a Weld County district judge, died of an apparent heart attack while on the bench Monday afternoon.
He was appointed district court judge in May 2006. After receiving his law degree in 1986 he worked for the Colorado State Public Defender’s Office in Denver, Grand Junction and Greeley until 2000 when he was appointed Weld County magistrate. He resigned to form his own practice in 2002, then returned to the bench in 2006.
Henderson, the youngest of six and the only male in the family, was raised in New Hampshire where he attended the University of New Hampshire, earning a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a law degree.
In his chambers was a sign that read “Kindness is my religion,” a quote from the Dalai Lama, and a giant pig with wings given to him by a friend who joked he would be appointed to the bench “when pigs fly,” his wife, Wendy Harrison, said.
“He had the most beautiful big brown eyes and the longest eyelashes I’ve ever seen on a man,” she said. “But mostly he had the biggest heart of anyone I know.”
His compassion was seen on the bench where “he always saw the human side of every situation,” she said.
He treated everyone with respect and dignity, even those charged with a serious offense, said Greeley District Judge James Hartmann.
“It was refreshing to see that type of respect in litigation and in the legal system,” Hartmann said.
At home Henderson was referred to as “big daddy,” by his daughters and two teenage boys the Hendersons took in, Harrison said.
“He made his heart and home open to a lot of people,” she said. “Somebody told me he was the most generous person they ever met.”
Henderson gave free legal advice to friends and family, served his wife cappuccino in bed every morning, read to his 16-year-old daughter, Sara, every day until she was a teenager, and bragged all over town when his step-daughter, Julia Sell, 23, called to wish him a happy Father’s Day, she said.
“I always thought of him as a bear,” Harrison said. “He was real big and furry, he loved fishing and napping, and he would fight lions and tigers for those he loved and for a cause he believed in.”
In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations be made to the NTAF cata strophic injury fund, a special program of the National Transplant Assistance Fund, in honor of Sarah Devasto. For more information visit .
Devasto is a family friend who was paralyzed by a spinal cord injury, Harrison said.
Services will be Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Union Colony Civic Center, Greeley.
Staff writer Simona Gallegos can be reached at 303-954-1555 or sgallegos@denverpost.com.
