Matthew Lee Henry

Celebration of Life services will be held on Saturday, Jan. 12, 2019, at Schweitzer United Methodist Church at 10 a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to Pancreatic Cancer Action Network or Arc of the Ozarks.

Matthew Lee Henry, 50, of Springfield, died Jan. 4, 2019, in his home. Matt was born June 6, 1968, at St. John’s Hospital in Springfield, to parents Sandra and Gary Henry. The second child of the family, Matt had two siblings—older brother Jeff and younger brother Greg.

As a child, Matt attended Greenwood Laboratory School, graduating in 1986. According to his mom, Matt was arguably the brightest member of the family who displayed his amazing powers of memory from an early age. As a 12-year-old, Matt reportedly accomplished a goal that summer by reading the entire encyclopedia set owned by his family. Throughout his life, Matt basically was an encyclopedia—able to recite facts and direct quotes on diverse topics such as baseball, “The Simpsons,” and U.S. history.

Matt’s talent as a bowler also became apparent early in his life. Matt won the 1986 Missouri state youth bowling championship in Jefferson City—not a scholastic competition but rather the open youth championship for the entire state. Later in life, Matt managed to achieve a perfect “300” at least two different times during league competition.

Matt attended Drury College, majoring in psychology and earning a bachelor of science in 1990. It was while participating in the theater production of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” at Drury that Matt met his eventual wife, Carrie Roberts.

Matt and Carrie were married June 15, 1991, at the Cabool Christian Church in Cabool. The newlywed couple spent the next two years in Iowa City, Iowa while Matt worked toward his master’s degree in neuropsychology at the University of Iowa, which he earned in 1993.

Back in Springfield, Matt and Carrie built a life together that included work, family, friends, and faith.

For a time, Matt worked for Burrell Behavioral Health, and along with his parents he was the developer of Valley Park Estates subdivision in Republic. Matt served many years as the president of the homeowners’ association there.

Matt added working for the family business Henry’s Towing to his repertoire in 2000, and became the company’s official owner in 2012. Using the strong foundation started by his parents, Matt strove to build Henry’s Towing into what is considered the "Gold Standard" (Matt's favorite description of the company’s service) in southwest Missouri.

Henry’s Towing, which has 50 employees and serves more than 45,000 customers a year,  is the largest independently owned AAA single service area provider in the country, garnering the respect of many peers in the towing industry.

Matt was incredibly generous with his time, volunteering his leadership skills and enthusiasm to numerous civic organizations, including leading boy scout troops, teaching Sunday school classes at Schweitzer United Methodist Church, coaching youth baseball and soccer, and serving as president for the Greenwood Athletic and Debate Boosters Club.

Matt is survived and will be forever loved by his wife Carrie; his three children Elizabeth, Jared, and Josh; parents Sandra and Gary Henry; Jeff, Paula and Hubert Henry; Greg Henry; Carol (Roberts) and Don Jones; Brad and Janet Roberts; Spencer Roberts; Kizzi Hutcheson; Aaron Jones and family; and  Aubrietta Jones and family. Matt was preceded in death by grandparents Vada and Oren Henry; grandparents Hazel and Hubert Locke; and father-in-law Jerry Roberts.