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For 35 years, Judy Henderson spent countless hours on a prison phone wishing she could hold her children. After a governor’s pardon set her free, she knew she couldn’t just forget about other moms like her.

Henderson, now 69, was convicted of capital murder for the death of a Springfield, Missouri, jeweler in 1982 and was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for 50 years, according to the Missouri Department of Corrections. She and her boyfriend had planned to rob the jeweler, but the robbery turned deadly when the man refused to give them a ring and other valuables. Henderson’s boyfriend fired a gun several times, killing the jeweler and injuring her, court records show.

Both were charged with murder, but only Henderson was found guilty. At the time, her son, Chip, was 3 and her daughter, Angel, was 12.

She was forced to trade the life she had with her children – driving Angel to tap dancing classes, afternoons baking brownies – for phone calls and visits to the Chillicothe Correctional Center, about 75 miles northeast of Kansas City.

Despite the distance, Henderson remained close to Angel by teaching her from afar how to cook sweet potatoes, supporting her through breakups, and helping her pick careers after college.

Mother’s Day was always particularly tough. Henderson welcomed holiday visits from Angel, who planned different meals each year. Sometimes Angel would bring a homemade meal, other times she’d buy prepared food.

“She would always visit on Mother’s Day,” Henderson said. “And when my mother was alive (they’d) come together along with most of my siblings.”

But Henderson had virtually no contact with Chip. Her ex-husband wouldn’t allow the boy to visit or even talk over the phone with her until he turned 16.

“When I walked into the visiting room, I didn’t even recognize him,” she said. “We both started crying. It was a moment that I would never forget.”

As the years passed and her children grew older, she also got to meet her three grandchildren – albeit from behind bars.

“It was very joyful, and it was heartbreaking that I couldn’t be with my daughter when they were born, and to walk her through the pregnancy in person,” Henderson said.

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Judy Henderson, center, with her daughter Angel McDonald and her son Chip Henderson, celebrated Mother’s Day together last year along with their families.

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