Henle, Theda O(strander) 1918–2005
Henle, Theda O(strander) 1918–2005
OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born March 21, 1918, in San Francisco, CA; died of a heart attack April 1, 2005, in Cheverly, MD. Civic leader and author. A former president of the Arlington League of Women Voters, Henle was a civil rights advocate who also wrote fiction. She married and settled into family life a year after graduating from Swarthmore College in 1940. Moving to Arlington, Virginia in 1949, she lived there until 2003. Here she was very active in her local chapter of the League of Women Voters, where she was president from 1956 to 1958, and she also fought for school integration, founding the Arlington Committee to Preserve Public Schools. Henle also occasionally aided Democratic politicians in various capacities, including her work as a research chair for congressional hopeful Augustus C. Johnson in the 1960s and as a legislative aide for Mary A. Marshall. When not involved in politics and activism, Henle wrote fiction, including several plays, short stories, and the novel Death Files for Congress (1971). Her story "A Harmless Vanity" was adapted for the BBC television series Tales of the Unexpected.
OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:
PERIODICALS
Washington Post, April 4, 2005, p. B5.