Mack Henson

Mack Henson went to school in Seymour, Texas during the lean years of the Great Depression. He dropped out of school at age 12 to help support the family. He sold newspapers, shined shoes and did odd jobs. It was hard times, but young Mack Henson did pretty well, relying on his natural instincts, charm and street smarts. He was curious and an adventurer. By the time he was 15, Mack and his brother Shorty had ridden freight trains several times to California where they worked in construction, picked grapes and worked as cook’s helpers.

In 1936 at age 16, Mack went to work for Jake & Troy Wells at their Seymour Café in Seymour, Texas. Mack became a short order cook and excelled at baking fruit pies. The Wells brothers became his mentors and Mack was an eager apprentice. For the rest of his life, Mack would be involved in the restaurant business one way or another.

But Mack could never turn down a challenge. In 1938, he joined a crew of door to door salesman peddling magazine subscriptions all over the mid western United States. He prospered in this business and was soon in charge of the crew even though he was the youngest. Since it was the Dust Bowl era and money was scarce, he sometimes promoted payments for his subscriptions from rural farmers in goods rather than cash. Mack particularly liked old gold teeth and live chickens. He even built a chicken cage on top of his car to carry his earnings.

In the late 1930’s, CJ and the entire Henson clan moved to Abilene, Texas. CJ and Mack’s older brother Arthel went to work in the Paymaster Feed Mill. CJ worked the night shift and ran a small roadside produce stand during the day. CJ liked to sleep in his chair next to the stand. When a customer wanted something they just woke him up. Times were a little different back then. Eventually, CJ opened a small grocery store that became an Abilene institution.

Fun Valley, South Fork, CO

In the pre war days of the early 1940s, the military began building Army Bases around the country. A construction boom came to the Abilene area with the building of Camp Barkly in nearby View, Texas. At age 20 Mack and his partner Bill Bailey, with borrowed money, purchased an old trailer house and turned it into a small diner. Mack and Bill started serving hamburgers and chili to the hungry hoards of construction workers. He lived in a converted chicken coop behind the trailer house diner. Bill hired a local farm girl by the name of Roma Jean Richards as a waitress. When the young waitress met the busy short order cook Mack Henson, his first words to her were “Get the Hell out of my Kitchen”. Mack and Jean married in the spring of 1941, and stayed married for over 60 years. I guess Mack said the right thing to her after all.

When the Camp Barkly construction work was finished, Mack closed the trailer house café with no name. He finagled a job as the construction foreman on another Military Camp to be built in Leadville, Colorado, and the newlyweds moved to Leadville. Mack excelled in the construction business but was drafted into the Army after just a few months in Leadville.

Mack in his acting era

Mack went to Jefferson Barracks Military post in Missouri for basic training, then on to Spokane, Washington and March Field, California where he waited to be shipped out for combat in the South Pacific. Only hours before his military unit was to be shipped out, his brother Shorty was in a terrible train/car accident near Houston. Mack got an emergency furlough to see Shorty who was in critical condition. When he returned to March Field his company had shipped out. Mack learned later that almost all of the soldiers in his outfit were killed in action.

Mack was reassigned to the Army Air Corps bombing range near Tonopah, Nevada where he set up both day and night targets for the B-52 bombing practice.

Mack did very well in Tonopah and soon made the rank of Sargent. He and Jean purchased a building on main street and opened The Quick Way Photo portrait studio where he took and sold portrait photos to soldiers. This was wide open Nevada in the 1940’s and it suited

Mack and Jean with all the grandkids

Mack just fine. They installed Slot Machines in the studio. He bought and sold motorcycles, cars, and items that were in short supply during war time, gasoline, nylons and other things. Mack also loaned money and operated an informal pawn service. He became very good poker player, a passion that lasted throughout the rest of his life. Things in Tonopah were good for Mack.

He even built a small house using mostly scrap materials from the bombing range. In the war years soldiers inspected and rode on the hoods of people’s cars as they drove across Hoover Dam. He smuggled untaxed whiskey across the dam by hiding it under the baby crib of his new born son, Dusty.

Mack and Jean Henson would have probably stayed in Nevada if it wasn’t for Mack’s family back in Texas. Sure enough, in 1945, after the war, Mack and Jean returned to Abilene. Mack opened up a café, ran it for a short time and sold it. He and brother Shorty did cement contracting for a brief time.

In 1946, Mack took the $600.00 he had saved up in the Army and used this to open Mack Henson Grocery & Meat, his first small grocery store in North Abilene.

The post war era of the late 1940’s and early 1950’s were prosperous times in America. Mack’s family grew as did his business. Bennie was born in 1947, and Melba in 1950. Between 1946 and 1954 Mack doubled the size of his grocery about every 2 years. By 1954, Mack Henson Grocery & Meat was selling clothing and hardware. His store included a jewelry shop and watch repair, a barber shop and even offered dry cleaning pick up and delivery. This kind of one stop shopping was the basic concept that Walmart and Kmart use today. Mack Henson was doing it fifty years ago in Abilene, Texas. Mack, his sister Louise and her husband Jake Cagle opened a gas station and salvage yard. Dusty had a snow cone stand in the parking lot.

Mack even had his own 15 minute T.V. show that aired every Wednesday. And Mack appeared as the Master of Ceremonies at many functions in and around Abilene. All the Henson brothers, Mack, Arthel, Shorty, Melvin and sister Louise did well during this time. The brothers owned neighboring cabins on Ft Phantom lake. Mack swam 2 miles across the lake on his 30th birthday July 10, 1950. Life was good!!!

Mack's First Grocery Store - 1946

But Mack didn’t lay back and take things easy. In 1955 and 1956 he opened 3 convenience stores, The Quickway Stores, in Abilene. He built a small strip center east of the big store which included Hawkeye’s Diner and the latest fad in Abilene - a “Coin Operated” Laundry . In 1957, Mack sold the Quickway Stores and some rent houses, leased the big store to Wooten Grocery Company and retired at age 37.

Mack hunted, fished, traveled some, managed his properties and piddled in other small business deals. But he got restless. So in 1959, he made a deal with the General Electric Company to open coin operated laundries featuring GE machines nationwide. It was a sweet deal for Mack. He had the full financial backing of G E and took many trips scouting locations for this promising new business. The first 3 laundries were scheduled to open in Alamosa, Monte Vista and Del Norte, three small towns in the San Luis Valley of Southern Colorado.

On a cold Sunday in February 1959 just before signing the papers for the first new GE Coin Operated Laundry in Colorado, Mack and Jean drove up to Wolf Creek Pass and passed a beautiful ranch along the banks of the Rio Grande River, 5 miles west of South Fork, Colorado. They noticed that the ranch was for sale. Instead of signing the papers for the coin laundries, Mack and Jean signed a contract to buy his dream ranch, the ranch that we all know today as Fun Valley.

In May of 1959, the Henson Family and long time employees Jackie Woods, Jeanie Woods and Cleve Bilbrey left Abilene for Colorado. By the end of that summer, Fun Valley was open for business. The ranch featured a Miniature Golf Course, a commercial trout fishing pond and horse rentals. By the fall of 1959 Mack had his Colorado Outfitter Guide license and had established a camp in the mountains for hunters.

In 1960 Bulldozers were clearing land and building lakes at Fun Valley. Although over 100 people had previously been turned down, Mack applied for a liquor license. Somehow, Mack got his license, the first liquor license of this type issued in Rio Grande County. Mack and Jean opened the Fun Valley Steakhouse and bar. The opening was a huge success, featuring Slim Willett, a friend and famous Abilene Western Singer who wrote the 1950’s smash hit ”Don’t let the Stars get in your eyes”. During the summer of 1960, other entertainers including Johnnie Lee Wills, the brother of Bob Wills also performed at the Fun Valley Steakhouse and bar.

During the 1960s, Mack didn’t slow down at all. He got himself elected president of the South Fork Chamber of Commerce. He got together with South Fork restaurant owner Jimmy Minter. Together, Mack and Jimmie organized the Rio Grande World Champion Raft Race which was a huge success.

Mack built a motel at Fun Valley in the spring of 1961. In the spring of 1962, Mack and Jean constructed a roller skating rink and some rental cabins on the river.

Jean & Mack Henson sitting, with family members, Melba, Molly, Kyle, Randy, Henk, Bennie, Debbie, Dusty and Bonnie

The expansion at Fun Valley was successful but tough. After the winter of 1959 - 1960, the Hensons moved their base of operations back to Texas and every year opened Fun Valley from May through November. In 1968 Mack bought the Spruce Ski Lodge in South Fork and the El Rio Hotel in Del Norte. He changed the name of the El Rio to The Old West Hotel. In 1970, he transformed the hotel into an Old West theme Trading Post Mall, featuring 10 stores including the James Richards Pottery Shop. In 1971, Mack bought three more buildings and a small ranch in Del Norte, Colorado.

In the early 70’s all the Henson children, Dusty, Bennie and Melba got involved in the family business. And the Henson family continued to grow. Melba had two children Kyle and Molly. Bennie had two sons Mack David and Henk. Dusty stayed single until age 30 and had no children, but the Henson family has sure enjoyed the grandchildren.

Mack and Jean entertaining the crowd at Fun Valley

Throughout the 1970’s, Mack continued to expand the Fun Valley RV park until it reached about 500 spaces. He built a “Funitorium” that featured live entertainment every night. He changed the skating rink into a Square Dance Barn and a few years later, Mack built a big new Square Dance Barn on the river. Fun Valley now included 27 man made lakes in addition to a mile and a half of the Rio Grande River.

The late 1970’s and early 1980’s were great times for the Henson’s. Having raised up their kids, Mack and Jean ran Fun Valley every summer. In the winter season, they spent much time traveling to Las Vegas and taking fishing trips to Mexico.

Back in Abilene, Mack launched several new careers. He took up oil painting. He specialized in landscapes and quickly sold everything he painted. Mack was flattered when one of his paintings was stolen from Fun Valley.

Mack was always a showman. He performed in several community theater plays in Abilene and had small parts in 2 different movies that were filmed in Las Vegas. Mack enjoyed going to the Disc Jockey convention in Nashville to book and promote acts for the Fun Valley “Funatorium”. He traveled to Europe and South America. He hired an agent and spent some time in Hollywood making the rounds. He had a very hard time accepting the fact that Hollywood was not particularly interested in an actor in his 60’s with limited experience. Nevertheless, he somehow got his screen Actors guild Card.

In 1987 at age 67, Mack moved from Abilene and bought a new home on Lake Granbury in Granbury, Texas. He bought a store on the Granbury Town Square and some property on Hwy 377 where he promptly put in an R.V. Park and opened the Cowboy Market Place Gift store and Trading Post. Bennie managed the Granbury property. Melba managed Fun Valley and the Colorado properties. Dusty left in 1974 to start his own business, the El Paso Saddleblanket Company.

At about this time, Mack took up the game of golf. He played whenever he could, even well into his eighties. He really enjoyed his Fun Valley Golfing buddies.

In the late 1980’s and 1990’s, Mack spent more and more time playing Poker in Las Vegas. He hung out with “Amarillo Slim” the gambler, some of his Hollywood friends and others. Mack became a well known and respected gambler at the MGM Grand. He played in the World Series of Poker at Binion’s Horseshoe. Some of his poker games were 24 and 36 hour long ordeals and he loved them. After age 75, Mack began to slow some but enjoyed Fun Valley, his family, his customers, employees and friends more than ever.

Many of you probably remember the HUGE 80th birthday party we threw for Mack Henson at Fun Valley on July 10, 2000. We turned off all the lights and over 2,000 people lit candles and sang Happy Birthday to Mack. It was very moving.

In recent years, Mack and Jean liked to cruise Fun Valley in their golf cart greeting customers and children, spreading happiness and joy wherever they went.

Mack Henson, making a wonderful life out of the cards he was dealt

In fact, you could say Mack spent his whole life spreading happiness and joy wherever he went. Mack Henson was an adventurer, a businessman, a soldier, an entrepreneur, a gambler, and a bit of an outlaw who touched the lives of folks from Abilene to Tonopah To Fun Valley to Las Vegas to Granbury to Mexico.