Bronson bids a sad ‘so long’

It’s been more than a decade since Bronson Pharmaceuticals President Ray Hensley purchased the company and moved it from its longtime Rinetti Lane location across the street to the Plaza de La Cañada, Von’s shopping center.

Hensley was known to many of his longtime customers as a walking dictionary, his daughter, Linda Hensley said, adding that “no one could run the business as good as my dad.”

Linda Hensley, 54, worked with her dad at Bronson Pharmaceuticals for most of her adult life, doing “a bit of everything,” including bookkeeping, creating literature packets, running the cash register and helping customers.

Ray Hensley died in 2000, leaving his wife, Donna and daughter Linda to operate the family-run business, now known as Bronson Health Products.

Now, nearly 30 years after the family became involved in the business, Linda Hensley is closing the business’ doors for the last time on Saturday. The store is closing due to illness in the family and Hensley’s decision to care for her mother full-time.

“It’s going to be very difficult,” she said, of her decision to no longer run the family business along with longtime employee, Phyllis Bethel, who retired five years ago but came back to help out in recent months.

Linda Hensley grew up in the La Crescenta and La Cañada area and now lives in Montrose.

Working alongside her dad, Hensley said, she was more than just the boss’s daughter. She learned the business from the ground up.

“I remember when I was young, my dad would take my brother and I to another vitamin company and he’d show us the big vats that the vitamins were colored in. My dad always smelled of vitamins,” she recalled fondly.

Hensley said she worked hard during her years with the company and is proud to have been a part of her dad’s company.

“My mom and I were talking [recently] about our business and we’d like to thank all of our loyal customers, many of whom became our friends,” she said, adding, “It will be sad to say goodbye.”