90th "Surprise Party" for Wally Henry held in Malta

For his 90th birthday, which was technically on August 14, Wally Henry's family and friends converged on Trafton Park in Malta on Saturday afternoon for a surprise party for the long-time Malta resident. The party came off without a hitch. The surprise portion on the equation, well, not so much.

"It was supposed to be a big surprise, but I kind of caught on," Wally joked. "I've been watching little things happen...her (his wife, Doris) putting hamburger patties together by the bunches. I knew what was coming up."

Doris worked for about three weeks forming hamburger patties for the nearly 100 people to attend Wally's party on Saturday and though he wasn't caught off-guard by the party, Wally said he appreciated it all the same. Doris said that to keep Wally off the scent of the surprise, she told him that she was making the wealth of patties "for later on," according to Dirk Henry, one of the couple's sons.

"I didn't even act that surprised," Wally quipped after arriving. "But it's great, by golly. It's just great. It's great to see so many people here, though it seems like a lot of fuss."

Wally and Doris have "a lot" of grand and great grandchildren, according to Doris, and the two have six children together and three from a previous marriage. Large families are a common occurrence in the Henry family and Wally comes from a family of 14 children. Dirk recalled a time when his daughter questioned Wally on the families' large numbers.

"My daughter was visiting when she was five or six years old and she said to him, 'Grandpa, how come there were so many in your family'," Dirk remembered. "He said, 'well, back when we were growing up, we didn't have much TV."

Doris has been battling a bout of double pneumonia and has recently been hospitalized, but got a reprieve from the hospital and came down to Trafton Park to help Wally celebrate his birthday. Dirk said that in preparation for the party that his mother spent hours getting ready and he – rightly – predicted his father's reaction to the surprise party.

"He might be a little upset by fuss, because that is the way he is, but he'll be pretty happy too," Dirk said.

Wally had relatives show up from as far north as Alaska and as far south as Florida.

"We aren't sure how many people will show up," Dirk said. "He has a lot of friends out here though."

Wally's younger brother, Shorty, made the trip to town via Augusta, Mont.

"I was the thirteenth out of fourteenth kids," said Shorty. "I think Wally is really going to enjoy this. We told (Wally) we would meet him for lunch when we saw him this morning, but we are all going to surprise him here."

Donna, Doug and Delmar all live in Malta, so the commute for them was a bit easier to manage.

"We used to live in Malta," said Dirk. "But we moved to Green Acres (west of Malta) and Mom and Dad still have that house there. We all grew up around there. This is home. Malta never changes, just the faces. It's a birthday party, but it is a reunion too. Everybody is here."