Papa was featured in an article about retirement in the Wall Street Journal in May 2010.
Wall Street Journal, May 15, 2010
Second Acts - Portraits of people who are changing their lives and taking new paths
By Kristi Essick
Tending a bit a land - a backyard garden, for instance - is something many people look forward to after leaving the office. But Dale Henderson had a bigger vision in mind.
Journal Report
Mr. Henderson, 63, and his wife, Louise, own the 15,500 acre Winchester Ranch in southeast Arizona. The couple purchased the property in 2003, shortly before Mr. Henderson retired from his job as managing director of RBC Capital Markets, and moved there permanently in 2005.
"I didn't want to leave my retirement to chance, so I took stock of
what I really wanted to do with the rest of my life," says Mr.
Henderson, who spent 14 years as a partner at Ernst & Young and 22
years in investment banking at RBC.
Dale Henderson went from investment banking to Arizona rancher. Not one to spend his days fishing or playing tennis, Mr. Henderson came up with a more active plan. "I realized I wanted to be a rancher, and thankfully, my adventurous wife supported my new career choice 100%."
While still working at RBC in Florida, Mr. Henderson began scouting
properties out West. He and his wife looked at more than 200 places
before settling on Winchester. The couple was taken with the 100-mile
views overlooking nine mountain ranges and the ranch's 200 head of
grass-fed cattle.
"Winchester Ranch is not a gentleman's ranch, but a real working cattle ranch that's been in business for 120 years," Mr. Henderson says. "Part of our decision to make this massive change was to participate in a quickly fading way of life, because traditional working ranches are disappearing fast."
These days the Hendersons live in a house they built on a bluff, and work round-the-clock to keep the business running smoothly. They have a ranch manager, who is a retired professional rodeo roper, to help with day-to-day tasks, like moving cattle, fixing fences and laying water pipes. They use local cowboys to help out during roundups.
In addition to his own research, Mr. Henderson has learned about ranching from mingling with other cattlemen from the nearby town of Willcox, where ranchers and cowboys go to buy feed and supplies. "Just maintaining the roads, fences and the water infrastructure of wells, pipelines, solar pumps and storage tanks is endless, but I love how tangible my work is now—the opposite of investment banking," says Mr. Henderson, who has also taught himself to shoe horses, brand cattle and repair roofs.
"I know my lifestyle is an extreme choice," he says, "but being connected to the land is everything I ever wanted, and I plan to keep working hard until I can't sit on a horse any longer."
Wall Street Journal, May 15, 2010
Second Acts - Portraits of people who are changing their lives and taking new paths
By Kristi Essick
Tending a bit a land - a backyard garden, for instance - is something many people look forward to after leaving the office. But Dale Henderson had a bigger vision in mind.
Journal Report
Mr. Henderson, 63, and his wife, Louise, own the 15,500 acre Winchester Ranch in southeast Arizona. The couple purchased the property in 2003, shortly before Mr. Henderson retired from his job as managing director of RBC Capital Markets, and moved there permanently in 2005.
"Winchester Ranch is not a gentleman's ranch, but a real working cattle ranch that's been in business for 120 years," Mr. Henderson says. "Part of our decision to make this massive change was to participate in a quickly fading way of life, because traditional working ranches are disappearing fast."
These days the Hendersons live in a house they built on a bluff, and work round-the-clock to keep the business running smoothly. They have a ranch manager, who is a retired professional rodeo roper, to help with day-to-day tasks, like moving cattle, fixing fences and laying water pipes. They use local cowboys to help out during roundups.
In addition to his own research, Mr. Henderson has learned about ranching from mingling with other cattlemen from the nearby town of Willcox, where ranchers and cowboys go to buy feed and supplies. "Just maintaining the roads, fences and the water infrastructure of wells, pipelines, solar pumps and storage tanks is endless, but I love how tangible my work is now—the opposite of investment banking," says Mr. Henderson, who has also taught himself to shoe horses, brand cattle and repair roofs.
"I know my lifestyle is an extreme choice," he says, "but being connected to the land is everything I ever wanted, and I plan to keep working hard until I can't sit on a horse any longer."
