Mary Henkel dies at age 91
She was an industry pioneer and major benefactor
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, November 25, 2001
WINCHESTER, Va. — Mary Henkel, a co-founder of case goods producer Henkel-Harris and one of the first women to rise to prominence in American furniture manufacturing, has died. She was 91.
Mary and her husband, Carroll Henkel, and John Harris founded Henkel-Harris in 1946. Harris later sold his shares to the Henkels. When her husband died in January 1969, Mary Henkel faced a decision.
"There were several waiting to buy her out," said retailer and longtime friend Curtis Fortner, with Boyles Distinctive Furniture in Hickory, N.C. Brushing aside the idea that a woman couldn't run a factory, she resolved to keep the business going herself.
Some of her employees couldn't read or write, but they were great craftsmen and Mrs. Henkel found a way to teach them to build the antique reproductions that became a Henkel-Harris trademark.
"She would take them to Newport and Williamsburg and Mount Vernon and talked the curators into shutting down for half a day and let the employees go in and touch the furniture," said Fortner. "They told her, 'Mrs. Henkel, I can make this,' and they did."
After her husband's death, Mary Henkel was the company's top executive until 1982, when her son, William M. "Bill" Henkel, took over. Mrs. Henkel became board chairman, a position she held until she was named chairman emeritus a few years ago.
She was the first woman to serve as a director of the Southern Furniture Manufacturers Assn. and in 1996 became the second woman elected to the American Furniture Hall of Fame. She was a director of The Bernice Bienen-stock Furniture Library in High Point.She was a longtime supporter of Virginia's Shenandoah University, where the Mary M. Henkel Hall was dedicated in 1988.
She also established the Carroll H. Henkel Memorial Scholarship Fund at North Carolina State University, and supported a number of charities and civic organizations in the Winchester area.
In addition to her son, survivors include grandsons William McKenzie Henkel and John Carroll Henkel, both of whom are with Henkel-Harris.
| Henkel was proud of her company's antique reproduction furniture. |
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