Waights Gibbs Henry

Background

Henry was born on February 13, 1910, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to Waights Gibbs Henry and Mary Elizabeth Davis Henry. He was raised in a Methodist family and followed his father into the ministry. He married Mamie Lark Brown on February 16, 1935; they had three children.

His early adulthood coincided with the expansion of denominational higher education and professional religious training in the American South. His later career remained closely connected with Georgia Methodist institutions and with LaGrange, a west-central Georgia community whose economy and civic life were strongly shaped by textile manufacturing, agriculture, and regional commerce.

Education

Henry attended Emory University in 1927 and 1928 before transferring to Birmingham-Southern College, where he received an A.B. degree in 1930. Birmingham-Southern was a Methodist-affiliated liberal-arts college whose educational tradition combined collegiate study with church service and preparation for public life.

He received a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Yale University in 1934 and later received a Doctor of Divinity degree from Birmingham-Southern College in 1947. Yale's divinity program placed his ministerial education within one of the principal theological institutions of the United States, while the later Birmingham-Southern degree recognized his standing in Methodist higher education and ministry.

Career

Henry began pastoral work as an assistant pastor at Bunker Hill Congregational Church in Waterbury, Connecticut, from 1932 to 1936. In 1936 he joined the North Georgia Conference of the Methodist Church and was ordained to the Methodist ministry in 1938. He served Methodist pastorates in Hoschton, Clayton, and Atlanta between 1937 and 1944.

From 1945 to 1948, Henry was executive secretary of the Board of Education of the North Georgia Conference. The conference's educational work connected Methodist congregations with schools, colleges, and programs for religious instruction during a period when denominational institutions remained important providers of higher education in the South.

Henry became president of LaGrange College in 1948 and held that office until 1978. Founded in 1831 and acquired by the Methodist church in 1856, LaGrange College was a long-established Methodist liberal-arts institution; it became coeducational in 1953. During Henry's presidency, enrollment, faculty, buildings, library holdings, and instructional resources expanded substantially, and the college developed into a stronger regional liberal-arts institution.

In 1978 Henry became chancellor of LaGrange College, serving in that role until his death in 1989. He also preached on the Methodist series of the Protestant Hour in 1960, wrote a column for the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer after 1950, and chaired the board of the Protestant Radio and Television Center in 1970 and 1971.

Achievements

• Henry served as a judge of the Miss America Pageant in 1952.

• During his presidency of LaGrange College, the institution expanded its enrollment, faculty, buildings, library holdings, and instructional equipment, strengthening its position as a regional liberal-arts college.

• Henry wrote institutional and regional histories, including a history of LaGrange College and commissioned Newcomen histories of Georgia business and civic leaders.

Works

More photos

• biography

  • Fuller E. Callaway, Jr.: A Three Dimension Man and Callaway Foundation, Inc.

    (A Newcomen Society biography of Fuller E. Callaway Jr., t...)

    1979

• company history

  • Tributary to a Golden Stream: The Story of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of West Point-LaGrange, Georgia

    (A short institutional history of the Coca-Cola bottling c...)

    1982

• institutional history

  • A Brief History of LaGrange College

    (A history of LaGrange College prepared for the institutio...)

    1981

• sermon collection

  • Begin Where You Are, and Other Sermons

    (A collection of Henry's Methodist sermons, published in c...)

    1960

Religion

Henry was a Methodist clergyman and college leader. Methodism developed from the eighteenth-century revival movement associated with John Wesley and emphasized personal conversion, disciplined Christian practice, preaching, education, and organized social service.

His ministry unfolded within the Methodist institutional world of the North Georgia Conference. He served local congregations, worked for the conference Board of Education, and later led LaGrange College, a Methodist-founded institution whose educational mission joined liberal-arts study with Christian formation.

Views

Henry's public work joined Methodist ministry with the belief that higher education should cultivate intellectual development, Christian commitment, and service to community life. His leadership at LaGrange College reflected the institution's stated understanding of liberal-arts education as preparation for citizenship, moral responsibility, and service.

His sermons, institutional histories, and public addresses treated religious education and community memory as connected forms of service. Through his writing on LaGrange College and regional institutions, he presented local history as part of the continuing identity of the communities those institutions served.

Membership

Henry belonged to professional, fraternal, civic, cultural, and honorary organizations associated with higher education, religion, community service, and regional history. His memberships included the Newcomen Society in North America, Omicron Delta Kappa, Pi Kappa Alpha, Pi Gamma Mu, the Chattahoochee Valley Art Association, the Rotary Club of LaGrange, and the Troup County historical community.

His Rotary service included the governorship of a district in 1974–1975. He was also associated with the Lafayette Groupe in Le Puy, France, the Highland Country Club in LaGrange, and Masonic activity in LaGrange.

• Chattahoochee Valley Art Association , United States

• Newcomen Society in North America , United States

• Honorary member; the organization was associated with the French Resistance movement.

  Lafayette Groupe, Le Puy, France , France

• Omicron Delta Kappa , United States

• Pi Kappa Alpha , United States

• Pi Gamma Mu , United States

• Masonic lodge in LaGrange , United States

• District governor.

  Rotary Club of LaGrange , United States

  1974 - 1975

• Highland Country Club , United States

Interests

• Henry collected paintings by the Georgia artist Lamar Dodd and established a collection of Dodd's works for LaGrange College.

Connections

Henry married Mamie Lark Brown on February 16, 1935. They had three children: George Madison Henry, Waights Gibbs Henry III, and Mary Ann Henry.

His parents were Waights Gibbs Henry and Mary Elizabeth Davis Henry. His family connection to Methodist ministry continued across generations, including through his son Waights Gibbs Henry III.

Father:

Waights Gibbs Henry

A Methodist minister in the North Alabama Conference.

Mother:

Mary Elizabeth Davis Henry

Wife:

Mamie Lark Brown

Henry married her on February 16, 1935.

Son:

George Madison Henry

Son:

Waights Gibbs Henry III

Daughter:

Mary Ann Henry

References

• Henry, Waights Gibbs, Jr., 1910–1989 Biographical reference covering Henry's birth, education, Methodist ministry, presidency and chancellorship of LaGrange College, publications, family, honors, and death.
• The History of LaGrange College Institutional history documenting Henry's education, Methodist ministry, marriage, family, and appointment as president of LaGrange College in 1948.
  1955
• La Grange College Bulletin, Regular Bulletin, 1953–1955 Official college bulletin identifying Henry as president and recording his A.B., B.D., and D.D. qualifications.
  1953
• Quadrangle, 1978 LaGrange College publication describing institutional growth during Henry's presidency and his transition to the chancellorship.
  1978
• LaGrange College Commencement Program Institutional source documenting the continuing use of the Waights G. Henry Jr. Leadership Award at LaGrange College.
  2026