Bike Advocate Carl Henn Killed in Sunday's Storm

Bicycle advocate, community activist and local politician Carl Henn was among those who were killed in Sunday's storm.

When dark clouds blew in without warning about 3:15 p.m., the group ran from the King Farm Park picnic area to its cars. Five minutes into the roaring wind and pelting rain and hail, one picnicgoer said, a bright bolt of lightning filled the sky, followed instantly by deafening thunder.

After the storm had passed, they found Carl Henn "lying beneath a towering tree that had a fresh, eight-foot-long gash where lightning had apparently struck."

Henn, 48, died Tuesday at Washington Hospital Center, where his brother said his heart, damaged by the lightning strike, gave out. His wife, two daughters, parents and three siblings were at his bedside.

Friends, neighbors and Rockville officials said Montgomery County lost in Henn one of its most passionate environmental activists. He is credited with expanding the city's community gardens and persuading the City Council in 2007 to save fuel and promote recycling by cutting garbage collection from twice to once a week.

"He lived what he believed," McCarthy said. "He rode a bike so he wouldn't pollute. He used a push lawn mower. Everything the man did was principled."

Henn ran unsuccessfully for the City Council three times, most recently last year, but friends said he didn't harbor political ambitions as much as a tireless desire to help. When plows left six-foot mounds of snow in his Rockville neighborhood last winter, Henn grabbed his pickax and persuaded neighbors to join him in clearing the sidewalks. He was president of the Hungerford Civic Association. 

He was a fixture at City Council meetings, urging leaders to forgo road construction in favor of improving paths for cyclists and pedestrians and to pursue fuel sources beyond petroleum.

Henn was known for riding his bike to work and wherever he could. He had ridden two miles to the picnic Sunday, McCarthy said, and everyone assumed he had run to someone's car for shelter.

"It physically pained him when he had to use his car," said his younger brother, Kenna Henn of Austin.

Burt Hall, Rockville's recreation and parks director, said Henn had urged the city to add more community gardens so residents could walk or ride bikes to their plots.

ABC7 does more to make it seem like he died because he didn't have a car.

"It was a microburst kind of situation, it was a tornado touchdown basically and we thought everyone had run to their cars."

But Henn had ridden his bike, and never made it to safety.

Comments

[Dale McCarthy]

Please know that Carl's death had nothing to do with his having ridden his bike that day. I yelled out, "I'm opening the car. Run to the car." Carl was nowhere near his bicycle when he was struck. His bike was at the bottom of the hill and we found him under a tree at the top. We'll never know the reason he didn't run down to the cars or get out from under those tall trees, but it had nothing to do with the bike. If he had been where his bike was, he wouldn't have been hit. I do believe in something much more powerful than we are - a mystery we will not understand in this lifetime. This world's beloved Carl, was happily eating some of the fruits of his labors (our community garden) when this act of nature overcame him. We retrieved his bike and it's at a neighbor's house. We will ask Carol if she'd like it at the memorial service

[Samantha]

I agree with Mr. McCarthy. The death of Mr. Henn is beyond tragic but had most likely little to do with his biking. He was there with friends and surely he must realized danger and would certainly seek shelter in safety of the friend's vehicle. The question is .. did he have enough time to ralise the danger and act accordingly?
What if he got hit before he even could run for cover? Or once he realised the danger?

Whatever happen.. we really don't know and never will.

I just wanted to report a strangest sighting the night of the storm over the King Farm Picnic Area
where Mr. Henn got stroke by lightning..

I am a resident of King Farm and in the evenning I went outside on the deck to just breath a bit of a nice fresh air..
In a darkness of power outage the only light was a beautiful almost full moon..
no trace of the violent storm.. just few tinny white clouds surrounded the moon like a wreath..
When I look at those clouds carefully I saw very clear rainbows on them
amazing rainbows...

Never saw anything like that in my life..

Once the clouds passed the moon the rainbow dissapeared.

The strangest thing was that the moon was positioned directly from my prespective over the high trees in the Picnic area of the King farm where Mr. Henn got stroke.

I know that this is just a pure coincidence but then again.. similarly to what MrCarthy said.. "there is something much more powerful then we are" and whatever it is...

Those rainbows could have been nothing.. but to me they will always be sign of some consoltion that Mr. Henn went up there and he sent his rainbows upon us as a sing that he is happy on the other side..
till we see him again.
some sort of saying his goodbyes and sending peace.

[Washcycle]

Samantha, those rainbows are something astronomers fittingly call "the glory".

[John Z Wetmore]

I interviewed Carl Henn back in 1997. The video is now on blip.tv at:
http://www.blip.tv/dashboard/episode/4057147