Woman uses creative energy to bring joy to hearts one month at a time

SURFSIDE BEACH -- Jerri Henry makes sure love never leaves the building.

She allows warm feelings flowing to manifest month to month in displays depicting aspects of our cultural celebrations and revelations.

Customers of her business at 1413 U.S. 17 S. in Surfside Beach instantly realize this place isn’t the typical postal stop.

Folks dropping in during Christmas and New Year’s will find snowy scenes populated by ceramic figures and softly illuminated structures.

One such scene features dancers waltzing as a several musicians play near a fireplace, into which a lonely lady stares. Behind her, children throw snowballs and skate at an ice rink. This little world of activity, hundreds of statues and buildings, is Henry’s way of spreading cheer, one display at a time.

“Jerri has always been creative,” said Bob Henry, her husband of 51 years. His face beamed with obvious pride, as he gave her a loving glance. “She can take nothing and making something.”

His flattery obviously unnerved her a bit. Really, she said, what she does is exactly what she is suppose to do, which is try to bless someone by sharing life’s simplest joys.

Lois Black thinks her gift is one that keeps giving.

The Surfside Beach resident, who moved to the Grand Strand from Rhode Island 20 years ago, believes Jerri Henry is an inventive machine who never gets runs out of ideas.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Black said. “I’ve been a customer for 20 years, and I’ve always seen a display there. There is always something in the window, and you can’t miss it.”

Back in 1989, Jerri and Bob Henry, a retired Air Force veteran, opened JerriBob’s Mail Service.

It was then she would put up a little something on the office desk. It made an impression and soon it was a ritual. Folks were hooked.

“Christmas is probably one of her biggest displays,” said Black, who also loved the September display highlighting old books. “I love what she does because she uses so much detail. I can’t wait to see what she does in January.”

Yes, Jerri Henry knows how to get your attention.

This native of Glennville, Ga., grew up with joy in hear heart. She learned to be content with what she had, which wasn’t a lot.

Still, she found beauty wherever it was.

There was, for example, no Christmas tree in her home because her family couldn’t afford one.

“We had a Christmas tree at church, and you got a little (brown) paper bag of candy,” she said. “That was all the Christmas we had.”

It was the 1950s, and the only family member she knew who had a tree was an aunt who had seven children.

It was a Christmas tree fetched from nearby woods.

“They would take the graded papers from school and make snowflakes from them to use as decoration,” she said. “If you wanted to be real uptown and could afford it, you would get red cardboard and put it together to make link chains for the tree.”

She was 10 at the time, and it was 1952 when she saw her aunt’s tree with gift underneath for each of her children.

Her aunt couldn’t afford to buy gifts for any other children.

When Jerri Henry and her husband got married – they only had $10 between them, just enough to get their marriage license – she was determined to make sweeter memories for her own children one day.

She had five. And straightaway, she made sure they had the Christmas she never did.

However, she never emptied the bank. Practicality was key then, and it is now.

“Nothing on that table is more than $15,” she said of her display. “If you can’t sell it to me for $15 or less, I’m sorry I can’t do it and you can keep it.”

Through the years, customers have donated to the display.

Her daughter, Lisa Bradford who owns and operates the business with her husband, Tim, said the displays impact people young and old.

“Customers truly love it,” Bradford said. “They love it. The little old men will want to see the train go around the track as much as the kids. It is something you don’t see everyday.”

The Christmas showcase, for example, features a beautiful holiday waltz scene highlighting couples gliding across a wooden dance floor in front of a fireplace.

It was given to her by a customer.

Some of them tell their loved ones to make sure she gets pieces considered family heirlooms when they die.

And since no two displays are alike, Jerri Henry rotates figurines, buildings, landscapes and other objects prominent in her work so everyone’s memories, cherished family traditions and the like can have their moment in the monthly magic.

There are some customers who will come in and search through the hundreds of pieces strategically placed on several tables to ensure she hasn’t left them out.

The displays have moved some folks to tears and placed a warm smile on the faces of others.

“We’ve got too much nastiness in the world,” said Bob Henry, when asked why spreading joy mattered.

She sees the displays as a way to express her love to people, and in doing so, she believes she honors God.

“I can’t take people to Christ,” she said. “I go the other way. I take love and pass it on. I don’t expect anything back. I really, really do not.”