Featured Story /// Tom Henke


A Wonderful Life


Blessed with happy family, plenty of smiles and great career, sometimes Tom Henke wonders if he’s been living a dream


Story By: Tom Loeffler Photography By: Jason Allabaugh and Henke Family Photos


In so many ways, Tom Henke has lived a dream life. Happy family, great career, plenty of smiles. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. As is always the case with the Henke clan, family comes sec-  Tom was the third-oldest child of Fred and Mary Jane Henke. Third oldest out of four? Five? Six or seven? No, no, no, and no. Think the size of a football unit. Yes, this one goes to 11. The Henkes made The Waltons look like they weren’t even trying. “I remember mom always saying, ‘We didn’t have anything, but we had everything.’ And that’s so true in a big family,” said Henke, who has 24 nieces and nephews. “You didn’t have big Christmases,  imagine growing up in a small family, and as we get older, I think we appreciate it even more.


6 /// May 2026


“Big families were the rule, not the exception, when we were growing up. In our neighborhood, I can remember one family having  the whole school bus at our stop.” Tom met his wife Kathy in college, and they’ve been together ever


since. This year, they’ll mark their 46th wedding anniversary, and they have four children — Ryan, Linsay, Kim, and Amanda (more on her to come) and 12 grandkids.


“Other than faith, family is the most important thing, and if you don’t have that, it has to be a pretty lonely life,” Henke said. “And I’ve been blessed with a wonderful family.  better athlete than I was. She was the best women’s volleyball player I’ve ever seen, and she could hit a softball over a baseball fence.”


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