Lawrence B. "Jake" Henry, Jr.

Lawrence B. “Jake” Henry, JR passed away peacefully on October 31st, 2017 in Gainesville, Virginia at the age of 76, following a long battle with dementia. Jake leaves behind his daughters, Cheryl Gossman (Bill) and Denise Morrisey (Patrick); and his sons, Lawrence (Madhu) and Kevin Henry (Ethel) and 10 grandchildren: Rachel, Mariah, Rebecca, Connor, Julia, Lawrence, Hunter, Elizabeth, Tejas and Dhylan. He also leaves behind nine siblings, Sis, Mary, Debbie, Carol, Libby, Fran, Sue, Bernard, and John.

Jake was born on March 24, 1941, in Altoona, PA, to Lawrence and Frances Henry. He graduated from Altoona Catholic High School and married his high school sweetheart and the love of his life Marilyn Montgomery on Oct 22, 1960, and then they set off on an adventure that spanned the next 56 years together until Marilyn passed on to eternal life in 2015. While dementia robbed his ability to speak it never took away his ability to express his love for Marilyn or express kindness to all around him especially the many caregivers who lovingly took care of him for so many years.

Jake’s professional life began in 1960, as an airman, noncommissioned officer, followed by his service as an officer in many flying and space operations, logistics and acquisition assignments. His military career culminated as the Director of Program Analysis and Administration with the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Logistics at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Following his retirement from active duty in the Air Force, he decided to continue to serve our country in the DoD as a civil servant and held numerous senior positions at the Pentagon, Air Force major air commands, and unified and binational commands in the planning, programming, budgeting and program execution fields.

While working at the Pentagon, Jake was called to serve God’s people and answered that call when he was ordained a Deacon in the Roman Catholic Church. In this role, he felt it was a great privilege to help prepare those called to marry and especially loved baptizing children while spending countless hours preparing and delivered hundreds of homilies to spread God’s word.

A viewing will be held at Money and King Funeral Home from 6 pm – 8 pm on Thursday, Nov 2nd. A funeral Mass will be held at Saint Mary of Sorrows Catholic Church at 11:00 am Friday, Nov 3rd Immediately following the Mass a reception will be held at the Church hall. Jake will be buried at Fairfax Memorial Park.