Dempsie Lee Henley

Dempsie Henley, mayor of Liberty, Texas, and county judge for Liberty County, served as president of the Big Thicket Association, taking over from the helm from Lance Rosier. Henley used grassroots activism, political contacts (including touring Senator Ralph Yarborough around candidate sites), and timber industry outreach to bring attention and support for the 1974 creation of the Big Thicket National Preserve. Many of his stories about the effort are detailed in his book, The Murder of Silence: The Big Thicket Story (1970).