“The largest church building on South Whidbey did not have enough room Thursday afternoon to hold hundreds of mourners during a memorial service for David C. Henny, the late owner and president of Whidbey Telephone Company.Dozens of people sat on folding chairs or stood in the lobby of Trinity Lutheran Church at the packed service, listening to Henny’s friends and family tell anecdotes about the man who modernized South Whidbey’s phone service.Henny, 70, died April 20 at his home of a heart attack. His passing was visibly evident at the phone company building on the corner of Marshview Road and Highway 525, where its large U.S. flag hung at half staff all week.People who knew Henny remembered him with the stories of his life. Henny came to Whidbey Island in 1952, intent on purchasing Whidbey Telephone Co. According to his family, Henny introduced himself to the telephone business as a child and built a telephone network in his neighborhood when he was 12. The first people he approached in his successful bid to buy Whidbey Telephone were brothers Ernie and Ralph Noble, who owned a large portion of the shares in the 500-customer company. Ernie Noble, who was the manager of the company at the time, agreed to sell his shares after meeting the 23-year-old Henny. He was a smart cookie, Noble said Thursday.Some of the people who were part of Whidbey Telephone when Henny took control of the company told their stories at Thursday’s memorial. Bobbi Francisco Breedlove, an operator for the company in 1953, recalled a time when Henny asked her mischievously to come into a room at the company’s downtown Langley building.He said ‘I’ve got a friend of yours in here you really want to see,’ she said.In the room, Breedlove found the first switchboard she had ever used. Henny had purchased it at a sale to add it to his collection of antique telephone hardware. Breedlove said she was thrilled to see it and had tried unsuccessfully during the past four-and-a-half decades to convince Henny to give it to her. It remains part of Henny’s collection to this day.Also speaking up at the service was Henny’s longtime friend and attorney Rob Snyder. Snyder went to work for Henny at his phone company over 40 years ago. He lauded Henny for his integrity and for his quick mind, then told a story about how he and Henny brought phone service to Hat Island: One day in the early 1960s, the pair loaded a large, cedar rowboat with modified, crank-style telephones and reels of small gauge telephone wire and motored to the little privately-owned island. At the time, only one person lived there full-time, while the rest of the homes were for summer use. Snyder and Henny installed phones in those homes and strung wire between them, bringing the first phone service to the island. Tides wiped out the lines several times in the first few months of the system’s operation, necessitating more rowboat trips. Whidbey Telephone has since laid a submarine cable to the island.Not mentioned at the service was Henny’s 1974 federal conviction for wire fraud and intercepting phone calls. Henny was sentenced to three years in federal prison for falsifying Whidbey Telephone Co. records, which allowed the company to take a larger share of long-distance phone revenues than it was entitled to under a contract with General Telephone Co. Henny maintained his innocence through the appeal process, but eventually served time in federal prison.However, the conviction did not seem to damage his standing on South Whidbey. Henny’s pastor, Owen Baldwin, who officiated Thursday’s service, said that though Henny was often strong willed and controversial, he was easy to like. Langley Mayor Lloyd Furman agreed with that assessment. He and Henny have had several dealings over the years, including 1999 negotiations of a long-distance utility tax imposed on Whidbey Telephone Co. by the city. He was a very intelligent man, Furman said Friday. He fought hard for what he believed in.Henny made the news frequently as he battled Island County over shoreline matters, and with several lawsuits involving neighbors, including the local diking district. He always fought for his principles and never ducked questions from the local newspaper.Many at the memorial service spoke about Henny’s deep religious convictions, of his many long motorcycle road trips, and of his love of music. A letter written by Henny’s son, George, and read by Pastor Baldwin, even got the mourners chuckling at one point early in the service. George recounted how his father’s explanations of everything from telephone service to music were highly detailed, complex, and often strayed far from the point of the original discussion before coming back to the beginning.Dad, what is your point again? George frequently asked his father.For anyone who knew David Henny, it was a question that deserved a good laugh.Also honoring Henny at the service were several officers from Fire Protection District 3, who turned out in full-dress uniform. Henny served as a fire commissioner for the district for 13 years. He was appointed to the board in 1960 and resigned in 1973.Whidbey Telephone Co. remains in the hands of the Henny family. It will be operated by David’s wife, Marion, as vice president; daughter Julia, deputy of internal matters; and son George, director of advanced business solutions. “