Henry, Harvey Wilbur

Harvey Wilbur Henry, 82, of Iowa City, died of pancreatic cancer on March 12, 2011, at home. On Tuesday, March 15, at 5 p.m. there will be a brief service followed by a visitation held at Gay & Ciha Funeral Home. It was Mr. Henry's wish to be cremated.

Mr. Henry was born Sept. 30, 1928, on a farm near Palmyra, Warren County, Iowa, the third child of Roy Russell Henry and Ruth Gertrude (Brown) Henry. He attended Moore country school through grade eight in the same building where his mother and grandfather attended school. He graduated from Indianola High School in 1946. He graduated from Iowa State University, receiving a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1954, and was a member of Tau Sigma Delta Architecture Honorary Society. He worked in the Indianola office of Architect Lester C. Langdon the last half of his senior year of high school. After graduation from Iowa State he worked in the Waterloo office of Architects Thorson, Thorson, and Madson, assisting in the design of churches, hospitals, nursing homes, and a variety of other building types.

He became registered as an architect in 1958 and opened a private architectural practice in February 1960 in Cedar Falls. He later entered into two separate architectural partnerships, one in Waterloo and the other in Iowa City, returning again to private practice in 1966. He continued this practice until 2003. During his years of practice he designed numerous churches, schools, commercial buildings, and many housing projects in Eastern Iowa. He served as construction management consultant for the 1970s restoration of Old Capitol in Iowa City.

Mr. Henry was a 30-year member of American Institute of Architects and a 17-year member of Iowa City Noon Lions Club. He was a member of the Iowa City Genealogical Society. In 2000, he became webmaster of the ICGS website. In 2002, he became editor of the ICGS newsletter.

Mr. Henry's final legacy and in his opinion, one of the most significant, was cataloging, digitalizing and preserving information on one of his websites about the 13,000 gravesites in the IOOF Cemetery in Indianola. Without his efforts this information may have been lost forever.

On Sept. 4, 1949, he married Gloria Jean Davis, daughter of Charles Olin Davis and Josephine John Davis, of Indianola. To them were born two sons and two daughters. Survivors include his wife, Gloria; daughter, Marsha, and grandchildren, Henry and Lydia; son, Martin, and granddaughter, Carina; granddaughter, Jennifer, daughter of their late son, Darrell; and daughter, Denise, and her husband, Ronald Morton, and grandchildren, Zackary, Drew, Caitlin and Monica.

Mr. Henry was preceded in death by his son, Darrell.

It is the wish of Harvey's wife, Gloria, that instead of flowers, donations be made to the Iowa City Hospice, 1025 Wade St., Iowa City, IA 52240.

Online condolences may be sent for his family through the web at