Outfitter Henry Falany, 1945-2024 – White Water River Expeditions (with his wife, Grace)

Henry Falany was a visionary, adventurer, pilot, entrepreneur and pastor. He built one of the larger river running companies in the world, White Water River Expeditions (WWRE), which ran the Grand Canyon, the Salmon River, Middle Fork River, Desolation Canyon, Stanislaus and Tuolumne rivers and Rouge River. He had three warehouses in different states for the river rafting company.  He also ran island trips in Belize and Central America for diving, sport fishing and island exploring, selling WWRE in 1988.  He built a horse ranch to train and raise cutting horses, riding horses, carriage and stagecoach horses. He was a stagecoach driver for Mariposa County for 10 years. Henry was a pastor for over 30 years, originally pastoring Sierra Faith Center then renamed to Mariposa Revival Center, which he pastored until his passing.

There’s a long and good interview with Henry about his Grand Canyon and other expeditions in the Boatman’s Quarterly Review here and a short history of WWRE here.

Henry was born to Joseph and Marion Falany on Nov. 5, 1945 in Sharon, Mass. He passed with his loved ones by his side in Turlock, Calif., on May 27, 2024 (obituary here).  Henry met the love of his life, Grace Miranda, in 1966 and they married in 1973 in Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.