Stephanie (his widow), me, and a few other close friends dropped his ash urn into the Pacific from one of the "America's Cup" racing yachts, off of Diamond Head off of Maui, toasting him with unembarrassed tears, boisterous laughter, "Hank the Crank" true action stories (which were VERY numerous and all VERY outrageous without exception), and of course - plentiful Chivas Regal, all in faithful accord with his final requests.
Typically, friends drift apart after high school, and many people may not have followed Hank’s exploits. He went to University of Salt Lake initially in pre-med, finishing with some kind of financial or economic degree, and started a huge stock brokerage in SLC named Helix Securities, dealing with “penny stocks”.
I visited him and Steph once in the early 90’s, and he had a full floor high above downtown SLC, windows with a commanding view in all four directions of the city below. There were prolly three or four dozen employees in cubicles, rushing around like a beehive and continually coming up to him with “…Mr. Beam, how do you want me to address this (x, y, z) situation?”
The SEC (Securities Exchange Commission) used to drag him to Washington DC annually, confidently thinking they would finally nail him to the wall for some manner of illegal trading, and every single damn time, he and Steph (who was/is an awesome defense attorney) would twist them in circles and walk away unscathed, batting 1000. They used to consider it as a government-paid vacation, and dismiss the teams of federal prosecutors as “putzes”.
When his west coast friends and I memorialized him in Hawaii, I was pretty much the 1970’s representative, and his buddies related stories from the 80’s and 90’s. I gotta tell y’all, if you think he was a wild and crazy guy in high school and that decade we had him in Rochester, I cannot adequately relate the magnitude of outrageous stories about him they told, and was just blown away by his activities in his years out west! Their stories out-did my stories by a factor of ten! You could say he really hit his stride, using his keen grasp of human psychology and subtle persuasion (subtle like a bulldozer!) that was his trademark !! Oscar Zeta Acosta (re: Hunter S. Thompson's fictional attorney) never had anything on Henry !!
Hank grabbed life by the balls and shook it until HE prevailed ! ! !
Hank, when I learned you passed away the other day, your smiling face popped right out in front of me. You were always really fun to be around. I understand you were a sailor. Me too.
Growing up with you was a collection of multifaceted experiences, ones which I will forever remember. Losing you definitely left a mark. But, I believe you are still with us in spirit.
Jack Hoffend
Henry passed away around 1995, I think.
Stephanie (his widow), me, and a few other close friends dropped his ash urn into the Pacific from one of the "America's Cup" racing yachts, off of Diamond Head off of Maui, toasting him with unembarrassed tears, boisterous laughter, "Hank the Crank" true action stories (which were VERY numerous and all VERY outrageous without exception), and of course - plentiful Chivas Regal, all in faithful accord with his final requests.
Typically, friends drift apart after high school, and many people may not have followed Hank’s exploits. He went to University of Salt Lake initially in pre-med, finishing with some kind of financial or economic degree, and started a huge stock brokerage in SLC named Helix Securities, dealing with “penny stocks”.
I visited him and Steph once in the early 90’s, and he had a full floor high above downtown SLC, windows with a commanding view in all four directions of the city below. There were prolly three or four dozen employees in cubicles, rushing around like a beehive and continually coming up to him with “…Mr. Beam, how do you want me to address this (x, y, z) situation?”
The SEC (Securities Exchange Commission) used to drag him to Washington DC annually, confidently thinking they would finally nail him to the wall for some manner of illegal trading, and every single damn time, he and Steph (who was/is an awesome defense attorney) would twist them in circles and walk away unscathed, batting 1000. They used to consider it as a government-paid vacation, and dismiss the teams of federal prosecutors as “putzes”.
When his west coast friends and I memorialized him in Hawaii, I was pretty much the 1970’s representative, and his buddies related stories from the 80’s and 90’s. I gotta tell y’all, if you think he was a wild and crazy guy in high school and that decade we had him in Rochester, I cannot adequately relate the magnitude of outrageous stories about him they told, and was just blown away by his activities in his years out west! Their stories out-did my stories by a factor of ten! You could say he really hit his stride, using his keen grasp of human psychology and subtle persuasion (subtle like a bulldozer!) that was his trademark !! Oscar Zeta Acosta (re: Hunter S. Thompson's fictional attorney) never had anything on Henry !!
Hank grabbed life by the balls and shook it until HE prevailed ! ! !
we miss you bad, brother.
David Petrano
Hank, when I learned you passed away the other day, your smiling face popped right out in front of me. You were always really fun to be around. I understand you were a sailor. Me too.
RIP buddy
Victor Nowrocki
Hank,
Growing up with you was a collection of multifaceted experiences, ones which I will forever remember. Losing you definitely left a mark. But, I believe you are still with us in spirit.
May God Bless You!
Jack Hoffend