‘Tis the season of giving and there is no better example of self-generosity than that found in Mr. Joe Henderson of the Nebo Community. Born and bred twenty-five miles south of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Mr. Joe moved to Louisiana with his family when he was a young boy, and he has been a LaSalle resident for the last 35 years. He has invested himself in the youth and people of this area by giving them his time, attention, care and skill, and his impact is felt by every life he has touched.
Mr. Joe, in his wife Joyce’s words, is a “man of many hats” including classroom teacher, horse farrier, dog trainer, retired Hunter Education instructor, former 4-H shotgun discipline/ Shooting Sports Program instructor (among many more) and a committed family man and community member. He has put his hands to the plow and has made a difference for his vast number of students and community people.
“One reason I chose to be a teacher to young people is because I never had anyone to teach me and I had to learn everything for myself,” Mr. Joe explained. “I have a gift to teach, and I have the patience to teach. My career as a young man was teaching upper elementary, and I was good at it. I loved it. I love kids.”
Mr. Joe taught school for twenty years, with ten of those years being the Director of Education at the Dixon Correctional Institute in Jackson, LA. Under his tutorship, the facility built a new educational building. He departed after the new building was completed, eventually moving on to a new career.
Having a natural love for horses and all things outdoors, which stemmed from the hours and days he spent with his grandparents in their home of Calmer, Arkansas, this man of many talents started farriering his own horses to save time and money. The work was enjoyable, he was good at it, and it wasn’t long before neighbors were asking him to farrier their horses. Not surprisingly, this led him to his second career as a farrier. He completed certification as a journeyman farrier in Oklahoma and his clientele encompassed Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana, and he invested twenty years in his new career. He also trained horses and entered them into competitions until 1987. He took his beloved horse, Latigo, to the World Championship in Oklahoma City where it placed in the top ten horses in its class.
From farrier, he embarked on a career of training upland game dogs including Labrador retrievers. He trained his last retriever in March of 2023, deciding at eighty-two years young, it might be time to retire.
During his various careers, Mr. Joe most importantly took the time to train and volunteer to become a Louisiana Hunter Education Instructor (for 25 years) and a 4-H Shooting Program Instructor for the youth of LaSalle Parish. That’s where hundreds of local kids come into play.
His ventures as a 4-H gun discipline instructor initially began without any funding to support the program. Mr. Joe found himself providing all the necessary equipment including the targets, the shells and even his person-al guns for those youth participants who didn’t have their own. Other community members, appreciative of his efforts, also donated needed supplies.
Under his tutorship, the program exploded with 40 to 60 participants in each class and with three classes being taught weekly. Eventually grants were secured through the NRA and other entities to fund the program. In his words, he “hasn’t been paid a nickel” for his love and dedication to his kids, instead reaping the benefits of their respect and accomplishments under his instruction and care. He won several Regional Individual Awards from the LA Dept. of Wildlife & Fisheries and the 4-H agency for his volunteer efforts. “They were mostly country kids and parents and in the first competition we swept the board taking out competitors from big cities and towns,” he explained. “The other instructors were wondering what we were doing in LaSalle Parish that they weren’t doing. We had an outstanding reputation in the newness of this program.” The shooting field behind his house, where the classes were taught, still bears the evidence of the hours he invested in the young marksmen. There remain piles of thousands of old clay targets leftover from the days of practice where the grass now refuses to grow – a testimony to the time and attention Mr. Joe gave his kids.
“I’ve told many youngsters if they needed some coaching, it would be no cost to them. I would help them be better shooters,” Mr. Joe said recalling the hours he spent with his teams.
Under his tutorship, many youths received their Hunter Education Certification and even greater numbers learned to shoot clay targets with accuracy and consistency. More than that, Mr. Joe gave of himself and his time to every kid he taught.
Just how many local youths did he teach?
“I haven’t got time to write them down,” he smiled and said, emphasizing the vast numbers of young people that he instructed over the years and decades.
Mr. Joe just finished teaching his last hunter education class in the spring of 2023, and he has since retired from his 4-H duties and gun discipline classes. These days he’s wearing his retired cap, and it looks and feels just right for this gentleman. He enjoys a western TV show or two in the afternoons and helps babysit his one-year-old great niece. The shooting fields behind his house are silent, the horses have all been farriered, the dogs trained and his lessons taught. It is bittersweet to say the least.
But just recently, one of his former students happened by to do a little work at his house. During the conversation they had, the fellow, Larkin Jackson, said, “Mr. Joe, you just have to teach my two boys to shoot!”
Needless to say, he did, finding himself in the harness once again, giving the best of himself to others. Perhaps, he doesn’t have time for retirement after all! That’s the way it is with a ‘giver’ – the work of giving of oneself is never completed, it just takes an occasional much needed rest, then he’s off again.
