Henry celebrates 90th

    Gertrude (Trudy) Connaway Henry celebrated her 90th birthday with a family gathering over the weekend of May 3 and 4.  Twenty two family members arrived from various parts of the U.S.  The celebration began on Saturday afternoon with a ride on the Dodge City Trolley.  The trolley ride included not only a tour of Historic Dodge City with a visit to the Home of Stone, but also included revisiting sites important in Trudy's life.  Some of the locations were former sites of the Thompson Hospital, 1405 Central, which is where Trudy was born May 7, 1918.  Other sites included the various homes which she lived and the schools she attended.  She started her education at Second Ward School which was on the property where Central School now stands.  As a fourth grader, Trudy was in the First Class of students to attend the "new" Central School.  Other locations of her education included, Dodge City High School and Dodge City Junior College, both located in the building that is now Comanche Middle School. 
    Though no longer standing, the trolley went past the location of St. Joseph's School of Nursing at St. Anthony Hospital where Trudy graduated as a nurse.  Trudy shared with her family that her father, Stanley Connaway, born in Dodge City in 1892, has also attended school in many of these same buildings.
    The trolley ride included the Ford County Courthouse, where four generations of Trudy's family have worked and St. Cornelius Episcopal church where she married Charles Henry on Oct. 24, 1940 and the family has continued to be actively involved in the life of the church.
    Trudy's birthday dinner was held Saturday evening at the Occident Room at Boot hill, Sunday morning the family gathered again with Trudy for memorial dedications at St. Cornelius Episcopal Church in memory of her late husband, Charles and their daughter, Lianna.
    Trudy now resides at Alterra Sterling House, 2400 N. 14th, No. 133, Dodge City, KS 67801.