William F. Henning

William F. Henning

William F. Henning is a native of Mississippi. He was educated in Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, and Texas. In the mid-fifties he served as organizing pastor of the church in Yellowstone National Park and directed the summer ministry there. Later he served as the minister in Yosemite National Park.

Ordained in Texas in 1956, he served churches in Beaumont, Ft. Worth, Sweetwater, and Big Spring. For five years, he was president of the Presbyterian Mo-Ranch Assembly, a conference center in the Texas Hill Country. During the same time, he was Associate Executive of the Synod of Texas. In the early seventies, he spent three years as treasurer and principal business officer for the Presbyterian Church in the United States. In 1976, he produced and was one of the preachers on the Bicentennial Series of THE PROTESTANT HOUR. Following an eight year pastorate, in 1984 he returned to administrative work as Executive Presbyter for the Presbytery of Arkansas. After his retirement in 1996, he served for 14 months as interim pastor of the Camp Hill Presbyterian Church in Pennsylvania, and one year each as interim executive presbyter in Tulsa and St. Louis. More Recently he served as interim pastor for one year each at First Presbyterian Church, Bentonville, Arkansas, First Presbyterian Church, Mountain Home, Arkansas, and First Presbyterian Church, West Plains, Missouri.

He was principal organizer and first president of the Community Action Council of Nolan County, Texas. Other volunteer work has included service on the boards of rehabilitation centers, the Y.M.C.A., Planned Parenthood, the Council on Aging, and the Volunteer Services Council for Mental Health and Mental Retardation, both locally and statewide, in Texas. For several years preceding 1993, he served as manager of the newsroom at annual meetings of the Presbyterian General Assembly. He served for six years as a member of the Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church, the board of St. Luke's Hospital in St. Louis, Secretary-Treasurer of the Arkansas-Oklahoma Presbyterian Foundation, and a member of the Advisory Committee of the Arkansas Interfaith Conference. He was vice-moderator of the 207th meeting of the General Assembly. He holds an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the University of the Ozarks.

He and his wife, Joy, have six adult children and ten grandchildren. They enjoy backpacking, skiing, and regularly jog and swim for fitness.