Deborah Henderson

Deborah Cornell Henderson died at 2:15 a.m. on Monday, July 27, 2020 in Albuquerque, NM. She was born in New York City on Thursday, February 4, 1932 and grew up in Ithaca, NY. She graduated from Ithaca High School in the class of 1949 and attended Cornell University for a while before moving to New York City and graduating from the Katherine Gibbs School. She met her first husband, Charles Van der Veer Yarbrough (a West Point Cadet) in New York City, and they married in 1952. As an Army wife, she travelled extensively, from Hawaii back to Ithaca, and many places in between. While in Ithaca, she was Solo Soprano under choir Director Tom Tracy for the First Presbyterian Church choir, and truly had the voice of an angel. She was also an animal lover and an accomplished horsewoman, and she instilled that love in her daughter as well.

She became a successful Real Estate Broker in Northern Virginia, and retired to Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida in 1989 where she met her husband Carter Henderson, a former Wall Street Journal front page editor and author of many books. They enjoyed life at the beach for many years and even travelled to Europe from time to time.

She is survived by her daughter, Shelley Yonker, of Las Cruces, NM; son, BG James Cornell Yarbrough of Columbus, GA; sister, Gail Hastings of San Antonio, TX; step-daughter Ali Cassidy of Prescott, AZ; three granddaughters; and one great-granddaughter born just 10 months ago.

In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations be made to the Alzheimer’s Association