Born September 11th, 1952, to Robert and Mildred (Horn) Doolittle in Walla Walla, Washington. He is survived by his loving wife of 47 years, Susan (Allen) Doolittle, son Joshua Doolittle and wife Sara Doolittle, and daughter Katie (Doolittle) Lantau and husband Aaron Lantau as well as brother Tim Doolittle, and sisters Susan Neuman and Trudy Doolittle. Henry also has 3 grandchildren: Emma Casey to son Josh, and Aubrey and Holden to daughter Katie.  Henry passed away in the early hours of December 16th after a valiant battle against stage 4 melanoma peacefully at home in his favorite spot. The spot with the best viewing angle of the TV and front door.

His early life included running around creating mischief and havoc up and down the Oregon/Washington border much to the annoyance of his parents. Henry, along with brothers John and Tim, were known far and wide for their exploits.  In school they found/captured/bribed a young raven which they taught to pilfer shiny objects for them. To this day no one quite knows where their “pet” raven stashed much of the loot. Their father Robert worked on many of the dams that exist to this day and kept the family moving from job to job.

After graduating high school and probably being asked to please leave, Henry decided to join the Navy in 1970.  After basic training he spent the next two years going through nuke school before being assigned to the USS Sargo (SSN-583) and being stationed in Hawaii. Despite the fact that the Vietnam war was raging, Henry’s only naval battle involved water hoses, fruit, and the Canadian Navy.  During his 4 years at sea, he was able to visit Guam, Honk Kong, the Philippines, and spent a lot of time exploring Hawaii.

After 6 years in the Navy, Henry returned home to find his parents had moved again. He shacked up at brother Tim’s apartment for a while until he moved to Spokane for work, where he met Sue quietly enjoying a book.  In true form, Henry opted to interrupt Sue’s reading time, and a relationship was formed. Now desperate for money, Henry took a job at Hanford. Together Henry and Sue purchased a house in Benton City and started a family and a life together. During this time Henry managed to meet and know every single person working for Hanford, become a Boy Scout leader, purchase a second house (albeit right next door to the first house), fall off a roof while re-building his woodshop, and eventually start a hobby of building kayaks.  He gave up after only building one.

Once the kids were finally out of the house, Henry returned to woodworking, this time pivoting from flat pieces of wood to roundish ones. Henry loved wood turning, and spent many an hour out in the shop, off at a meeting with the local woodturners group, or on the road going to woodturning symposiums. Sue was happy to have some reading time back. Once he was fully retired, he returned once more to Hawaii with his family, Henry eventually decided that his engineering knack wasn’t being put to good enough use. This would kick off his buying a CNC router and his first purchase of a 3d printer, which would be used solely to make toys, action figures, and useful colorful Knick knacks for around the house. Merging his two hobbies, Henry went on to become a published author of 3D Printers for Woodworkers: a short introduction, which went on to sell at least one copy.

After having raised two children and eventually getting them out of the house, Henry learned to enjoy spoiling his grandchildren.  The 3d printers were put to use cranking out toys for any occasion.  He was very proud of teaching Emma how to make a 3-point turn while she was learning to drive and showing her snow for the first time.  He had a blast taking Aubrey to Benton City Daze, right up until she ended up in the crosshairs of a fire truck’s water hose.

Henry lived a full life. He loved his family, M&M’s, his hobbies, and odd vehicles (including a talking Chrysler Laser, a titanium Smart car, and his beloved Jeep/truck mix Vlad the Gladiator).  He will be missed and remembered fondly by his family, friends, and ex- coworkers.