William Henderson, born August 13, 1981, moved in with us at The INN Between at the first of this year. Willie lived with us for a couple of weeks independently before he started to rapidly decline and was admitted to hospice. Willie passed away peacefully in his bed at The INN Between on March 26th, 2019.
Born to Bruce and Robin Henderson, Willie grew up in Salt Lake City. They preceded him in death, his mother the week he entered hospice care. He moved to Massachusetts for a brief time before returning to Utah. Willie worked in construction and had a variety of skills. He was soft spoken and was a great story teller.
One of Willies dying wishes was to speak to others about his life and how his decision to use meth had robbed him of his future. A few short weeks before he passed, he was afforded that opportunity and spoke to a packed room of recovering adults and then to a group of adolescents in recovery. It was a very powerful experience and Willie made a deep impact on several people that night. Having used a relatively short time and having had been clean for some time, his diagnosis of heart failure at such a young age due to his substance abuse was shocking to him. He wanted to get the message out that it doesn’t take much to cause drastic, permanent damage to your body. He also spoke of the regret he had that his choices had caused deep rifts in his relationships with family. His daughter was the light of his life and not a day went by that he didn’t speak of the love and pride he had for her.
Willie is survived by his daughter, Audrey Henderson, and his brothers Matt and Joey Henderson.
Willie became close to his next-door neighbor Pops at The INN Between and they often stayed up late into the night talking. When Pops died Willie told us he felt like he would be next and sadly he followed Pops just 10 days later.
We will hold a celebration of life for both Pops and Willie on Tuesday, April 9th at 6pm. Refreshments will follow.