Friends and family say Henry Flautt was passionate about whatever he did, including community service, the arts and even duck hunting.
Mr. Flautt, 89, died Sunday at Indywood Glen Personal Care Home in Greenwood, where he had lived for the past several years.
Mr. Flautt was born in Glendora and grew up on his family’s Ten Oaks farm outside Greenwood. He graduated from Greenwood High School and Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, before returning to his hometown.
After farming for a short time, he worked for nearly 30 years as an independent insurance agent.
He was a longtime member and leader in the Episcopal Church of the Nativity and was also active in many community organizations, including Arts for Success, the Museum of the Mississippi Delta, the Greenwood-Leflore County Chamber of Commerce, Greenwood Little Theatre, the Boy Scouts, and Habitat for Humanity.
The Museum of the Mississippi Delta honored him in 2017 for his contributions to the arts. He used his skills in pottery to make crosses and other items for many people over the years.
“It’s very gratifying when somebody wants something you create and they say it’s beautiful and they like the way it looks,” he said in a 2012 interview with the Commonwealth.
His son, Dr. Henry Flautt Jr., said his father was “very positive in everything he did” and used a “glass half full” approach to life. Mr. Flautt served as a mentor to his grandchildren and stepgrandchildren and many others and was willing to help people solve their problems, said his son, a physician who practices in Greenwood.
Among Mr. Flautt’s survivors are two children, four stepchildren, five grandchildren, seven stepgrandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
“He always was a good influence, gave good advice,” Henry Flautt Jr. said. “He was loved by many, many people in the community.”
Mr. Flautt also was part of the group that was instrumental in the construction of the building Greenwood Little Theatre used for many years.
He loved the outdoors and planted many of the second generation of trees lining Grand Boulevard, his son said.
A spiritual man, Mr. Flautt stayed active in retirement and didn’t complain when his health declined, his son said: “He just lived life to the fullest every day.”
John Doty Porter said he had known Mr. Flautt for more than 40 years and became close friends with him through duck hunting.
Mr. Flautt was more than 20 years older than Porter but was a “happy guy” who remained agile for a long time, Porter said.
“He just had such a passion for duck hunting,” Porter recalled. “He had passion for everything.”
Porter, a farmer, said Mr. Flautt once asked him to bring some red clay from land Porter rented so that Mr. Flautt could use it to make crosses. The landlords saw the crosses and were impressed that they had come from their land, Porter said.
“Probably hundreds of people have those crosses, and they were beautiful,” Porter said, adding that their style was distinctive: “As soon as you see it, you know it’s his.”
Porter said Mr. Flautt also was devoted to his church, where both men served as wardens.
“He’d do anything for you anytime, and he really enjoyed it when you asked him to do something,” Porter said.
Services for Mr. Flautt will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Episcopal Church of the NATIVITY, with visitation beginning in the parlor at 9:30 a.m.