Fred Hennigshausen

Fred H. Hennighausen
Fred H. Hennighausen passed away on May 4, 2017 surrounded by loving family. A family, graveside memorial service will be held at South Park Cemetery.
Fred was born May 21, 1924 to Frederick H. and Augusta Duval Hennighausen in Baltimore Maryland. He attended Duke University in Durham, North Carolina where he participated in lacrosse, was co-captain of the swim team, a member of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity and the Battalion Sub-Commander of the Navy ROTC unit. Upon graduation, Fred received a BS in General Engineering and a commission in the US Navy. He served aboard the Battleship New Jersey in the South Pacific during World War II. After the war he returned to Duke for one semester and received a BS in Mechanical Engineering. Subsequently, Fred followed his life’s love, Anne Lankford, to Santa Fe where she had moved with her parents, Dr. and Mrs. Livius Lankford. They were married December 10, 1948. Fred began a 32-year career with the New Mexico State Engineer Office, the majority of that time serving as a district supervisor of the Roswell office in charge of water rights administration for Southeastern New Mexico.
Upon his retirement in 1980, Fred and Anne moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma for three years while Fred attended law school at the University of Tulsa. They then returned to Roswell where he opened his law office with a concentration in water law. He was one of the first in the state to receive a certification from the NM Supreme Court as a water law specialist. In 1985, Fred and his good friend, A.J. Olsen, co-founded the firm of Hennighausen and Olsen.
Fred has been a member of the Roswell Jaycees, the ZIA Girl Scout Council, member of the Roswell City Council, and President of the South Eastern New Mexico Chapter Society of Professional Engineers. He served as both Board member and President of the Roswell Rotary Club, the United Way of Chaves County, and the Chaves County Bar Association. Fred received a number of awards throughout his career including the Historical Society and Foundation for Southeast New Mexico Heritage Award, in November 2000, for his unselfish dedication in protecting the water for the community of Roswell and the surrounding area. He also received the Pecos Valley Artesian Conservation Perseverance award in 2015. Fred was honored by Mayor Dennis Kintigh, who proclaimed Thursday, January 29, 2015 as Fred H. Hennighausen Day in honor of Fred’s distinguished career of public service to the state of New Mexico, and as outstanding practitioner in the area of water law over six and a half decades.
Even though Fred had many career accomplishments, his relationships with family, friends and God meant even more to him. He was devoted to and proud of his family and respected his colleagues and friends greatly. Fred was kind, generous, courageous, supportive and thankful. He led by example and was always the gentleman. His love for Christ grew with each passing day until in his final days he could hardly wait to be Home in heaven and reunited with his wife.
Fred was preceded in death by his beloved wife Anne, and is survived by his son Fred L. Hennighausen and wife Mary, his daughter Anne and husband Jerry McCoy, 7 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren.

For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16