By Loretta Fulton

Hendrick Home for Children will celebrate its 85th anniversary on June 21 with a reunion of former residents, ribbon cutting, campus tours, and a lunch. 

The ribbon cutting will be the first event, beginning at 9 a.m. Campus tours will begin at 9:30, followed by a picnic at 11 a.m. Deadline to RSVP for lunch is June 17. RSVP to www.surveymonkey.com/r/HHC85Anniversary

Hendrick Home opened on June 22, 1939 with 12 children from three families. Founders were Thomas Gould Hendrick and Ida Nations Hendrick, who are buried on campus. Hendrick Medical Center is named for the Hendricks. By the end of the first year, the enrollment at Hendrick Home for Children had grown to 60 children. By the time the home reached its 10-year milestone, 192 children had been admitted. The first child raised in the Home graduated from high school in 1943. 

Since it opened, the Home has been led by four men–Thomas Roberts, Claude Hicks, David Miller, and Robert Marshall. Miller retired at the end of 2021 after 27 years as executive director and was replaced by Marshall. 

Also in 2021, ACU Press published a history of the Home, written by Loretta Fulton. The book accompanied the opening of Legacy Hall on the second floor of the new building. Fulton, Miller, Judy Godfrey, Bird Thomas, and Rebecca Sharp made of the Legacy Team. 

In his Foreword to the book, Miller wrote that through the efforts of the Legacy Team “and a generous Board of Trustees that is respectful of this sacred history, the legacy of Tom and Ida Hendrick will never be forgotten.”

Loretta Fulton is creator and editor of Spirit of Abilene