In October of 2025, at age 85, Meredith Henry came to that proverbial end of the line. He entered the world on October 1, 1940 and departed on October 14, 2025. He is now reunited with Mary, his wife of 42 years, who passed in 2011, leaving him to fend for himself in the grocery department. He survived without her for 14 years on apple fritters for breakfast and became known on a first name basis with the crew at A&W for evening cheeseburgers and root beer floats.
Meredith was called many names. Most can be published, a few cannot. Born near Dawson Minnesota in 1940, his parents John and Fern Henry, named him “Meredith LeRoy Henry”. He was the 3rd of seven boys born within 8 years. His early years of defiant head butts with his Dad earned Meredith the nickname of “Shiftless”. This name paved the way for a life of “I’ll show you” – If anyone said he couldn’t do it, he did it! It served him well.
“Dad” was a name used by 4 people for Meredith. The first is Marci Palmer (technically Mary’s daughter) of Meridian, Idaho. Followed by, Kandis Lackemacher (Steve) and JoAnn Henry, both residing in Elk Grove California whom were more inclined to call him “DaddyO”. Plus Meredith Jr., also known as Butch, (Jerri) of Redmond Oregon or Boise, Idaho during BSU football season. The bloodline continues through 10 grandkids, plus a string of great-grands and great-great-grands.
Meredith drove truck for a living which eventually lead him to purchase his own log hauling rig in the early 1980’s. His hard work and determination to out-haul anyone else earned him the nickname “Ol’ Greedy” for being the first out and last back in the yard.
Friends and neighbors called him “Hank” or “Henry”. He made people smile by sharing his musical talents through old time country songs on the guitar or piano. Known for his sense of humor, his jokes and knee slapping yarns will be missed by those who knew him from Pineridge and the Payette coffee shops. Recently Facebook was his way to stay connected, passing on his hilarious comments generally misspelled – on purpose!
Meredith lived life one way – HIS WAY. It’s not likely he had any regrets but there might be two do overs. It’s likely he would be very sorry for the security check when leaving Walmart with Mary. He should have never told them to check her purse. It cost him a 2 week loss of Ma’s cooking and no clean clothes for a month. The second correction might be to that poor guy on his phone who pulled up alongside him at the stop light. Doing that fake launch and causing the guy to fly out into turning traffic was probably uncalled for. No one got hurt.
Come share memories of Meredith, at his Celebration of Life at Scotch Pines Golf Course in Payette on Saturday December 6th from 1 – 4.
