Jeanine Dobbins remembered as supporter of the arts, literacy education

A memorial service for Jeanine Dobbins on Aug. 3 at Southeast Missouri State University�s River Campus will celebrate the university�s former first lady and her life�s work.

Dobbins, 68, died Saturday after a battle with Lewy body dementia, and was known as a gracious, engaged, supportive figure who was �a great advocate for Southeast Missouri State University,� said Trudy Lee, interim vice president for university advancement and executive director of the foundation.

�Ken and Jeanine Dobbins were in every sense of the word a partnership,� Lee said. �He was president, but Jeanine was a gracious and involved first lady � each supported the other in what they did.�

Jeanine Dobbins loved to meet and mingle with the Conservatory�s students, said Rhonda Weller-Stilson, director of the Holland School of Visual and Performing Arts at Southeast.

�She was one of those people, when she saw you, she smiled with her whole face � she just lit up,� Weller-Stilson said.

Ken and Jeanine Dobbins were season ticket holders to River Campus performances, Weller-Stilson said, and would sit in the center of the balcony.

They were known to lead standing ovations, she added.

�They would come to shows, stay afterward, I would introduce them to students, and she would be the last to leave,� Weller-Stilson said.

The Dobbinses� support of the River Campus from its very inception, from fundraising and meeting with donors to helping sustain the facility and its growth, was evident, said Weller-Stilson.

�She very much wanted to contribute to kids who were going into the arts, and they established scholarships we use for our students who live in the Dobbins Center on the River Campus,� Weller-Stilson said.

Southeast recently named the Jeanine Larson Dobbins Conservatory of Theatre and Dance in recognition of a generous gift from the Dobbinses.

In 2015, the university�s board of regents named the River Campus Center in the couple�s honor. The building�s 90,000 square feet of space combines academic and living space and provided expanded classroom, studio, lab and gallery spaces, according to a university news release.

Dobbins also advocated early literacy education. From 1991 until she retired in 2010, Dobbins worked to bring new approaches to teaching reading to Missouri students, according to a university news release.

She was founder and former director of the Missouri Statewide Early Literacy Intervention Program, which under her leadership educated more than 700 teachers and assisted more than 275,000 Missouri elementary students with reading difficulties.

The family is planning an event to honor Jeanine Dobbins� memory Aug. 3 at the River Campus, 518 S. Fountain St. in Cape Girardeau. Plans are incomplete as of late Tuesday afternoon.

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630