Obituary

Kenneth Wayne Hensley, a magnificent husband and father, passed away peacefully at home on April 28, 2026, with his wife, Beverly, at his side. In true Ken fashion, he outlasted the expectations of his care team in his final days.

Ken was born in 1953 in Dahlgren, Virginia, to Joy and Alma Hensley, the second eldest of four siblings. The Hensley line in Virginia reached back to the 1640s. Through the colonial Reade and Warner families of the Northern Neck, Ken shared a direct common ancestor with George Washington in Col. George Reade of Gloucester County. The family’s Virginia presence spanned Lancaster, Northumberland, Fauquier, and Woodford counties before later generations moved westward through Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and Texas.

As the son of a Navy man, Ken’s childhood was spent in Newfoundland, Kingsville, Texas, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Virginia Beach, where he worked as a paperboy and graduated from Bayside High School in 1971. He was selected to attend Virginia Boys State, an early mark of the leadership and judgment that would define him.
Ken earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce and his MBA at Southern Methodist University. He held a CPA license throughout his career.

Beverly Merritt, Ken’s wife of 42 years, says Ken was the true prince charming that she had been looking for since reading fairy tales as a child. They made Dallas their home for more than three decades, where they were founding members of Park Cities Presbyterian Church, a community that reflected the steady, lived-in faith Ken carried throughout his life.

Ken spent more than thirty years in Dallas at a mining and aggregates company in finance, finishing his career as a CFO and consultant. He brought to his work the qualities he brought everywhere: discipline, integrity, and the conviction to stand up for what was right. Personally and professionally, he was known above all for his mind. His friend Phil called it a “trap door” intellect, the kind where just when you thought you had reached the bottom, another level would open beneath.

Above all, though, Ken was a faithful father and passionate protector. He raised two resilient men, Mason and Matthew, and poured himself into their upbringing. He served alongside them in Boy Scout Troop 125, walking each son through to the rank of Eagle Scout. He believed deeply in education, both the kind earned in a classroom and the kind learned on a Saturday under the hood of a car. Mason went on to earn a degree in biomedical engineering from Vanderbilt University, and Matthew earned a degree in physics from the University of Virginia. He was endlessly proud of his sons and their families. He lived to move mountains for his boys, and in his own quiet way, he did.

After more than three decades in Dallas, Ken and Beverly returned to Virginia in early 2022 to be near family. They were delighted to find a dream home near the James River, where Ken would later serve as treasurer of the HOA. The following Christmas, they joined Matthew and his family in Italy, a trip they would always treasure.

In 2024, Ken suffered a hemorrhagic stroke that took much of his speech and mobility. The intellect he was known for stayed sharp until his last breath. In the months that followed, one of his quiet joys was walking in water with Beverly in the rehabilitation pool in Bon Air.

The family will hold close many memories of him: days on the James River in his boat; the Land Rover Ken gave Mason for his sixteenth birthday, a car Mason still drives and one Ken rescued more times than either of them could count; and the twelve-hour drives Ken and Beverly made every summer to deliver the boys to Alpine Camp for Boys on Lookout Mountain, where Beverly was a camp nurse, a labor of love she will always carry with her.

Ken was preceded in death by his father, Joy Hensley. He is survived by his wife, Beverly Merritt Hensley; his son Mason and his wife Sarah, with grandchildren Emma and Henry, of Richmond, Virginia; his son Matthew and his wife Lindsay, with grandchildren Madeline and Michael, of Fairfax, Virginia; his mother, Alma Hensley; and his sisters Cheryl, Sharon, and Susan.

A memorial service will be held at Stony Point Presbyterian Church in Richmond, Virginia. June 13, 2026, at 10:00 am. Address: 2330 Buford Rd, Bon Air, VA 23235

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Ken’s memory to the Brain Injury Association of Virginia (BIAV). https://www.biav.net/get-involved/donate/