EX-STATE SENATOR, LONGTIME SHERIFF JOHN DENNIS DIES

Evidence that former state senator John Dennis left his mark on the area can be found throughout the counties he represented for 16 years.

Dennis, 82, who also served for many years as sheriff of Scott County before becoming state senator, died Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2000, after a long battle with Parkinson's disease.

Dennis was instrumental in getting funding for the Show Me Center and other buildings on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University; the Missouri Veterans Home, where Dennis lived his final years; the Missouri Conservation Department office and nature center at Cape Girardeau County Park; the development of a crime lab in Cape Girardeau and a mental hospital in Farmington.

"People should be grateful for everything he did for this area," said former state Rep. Betty Hearnes of Charleston, who worked with Dennis on the Joint Committee of Corrections. The committee was responsible for building prisons and developing training programs for corrections officers.

As a former state representative from Jackson, Marvin Proffer worked closely with Dennis on projects that included Show Me Center funding and funding for Cottonwood Treatment Center at Southeast Missouri State.

Proffer, special assistant for Southeast Missouri State University development, and Dennis were close friends. Proffer visited Dennis at the Veterans Home Monday.

"I would visit and fill him in on how things were going on the projects he had worked on," Proffer said. "I'm not sure he would hear what I was saying, but he seemed to breathe a little easier."

Albert M. Spradling Jr., who was a state senator from the area for 25 years and whose seat Dennis won in 1976 when Spradling elected not to seek re-election, predicted Dennis' funeral will be filled to capacity because of all the friends Dennis made in the area and in the Senate.

Funeral service will be at 3 p.m. Thursday at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Benton, where Dennis had lived much of his life.

Dennis cared deeply about the area, Proffer said. Dennis grew up in Patton and lived most of his life in Southeast Missouri. His first political office was that of sheriff of Scott County. He ran for the office in 1952 because his family was having a political feud with then-Sheriff Early Malcom.

"To show you the type of person he was, he was a Methodist and a Mason and managed to win election in an almost 100 percent Catholic area," Proffer said. "He just had a way of pulling people together. I never spoke to anyone who didn't like him."

"He told me he wanted to make a name for himself as the best sheriff Scott County had ever had," Spradling said.

Dennis spent 24 years as sheriff. He was good at his job because he was an expert at helping people, said current Scott County Sheriff Bill Ferrell.

"And good law enforcement is helping people," said Ferrell, whose father was a deputy under Dennis.

Ferrell said Dennis was outgoing, benevolent and sincere.

"You always knew where John stood," Ferrell said. "You might not always agree with him, but you respected his opinion."

This endeared him to constituents who elected him to six terms as sheriff.

Dennis in 1976 ran for and won the state Senate seat vacated by Spradling. He was as successful in the Senate as he had been at sheriff, Spradling said.

Dennis, a Democrat, had a quiet way of getting things done, Proffer said. He would always listen and had the ability to bring out the best in people, he said.

When Dennis wanted something, he could convince people to go along with him, said state Sen. Jim Mathewson of Sedalia, who represents the 21st District and served with Dennis. In fact, he was so good at getting what he wanted for his district, Dennis was nicknamed "the Great One," Mathewson said.

Dennis always kept his constituents his No. 1 priority, Proffer said. "People would come by his office and he'd listen." Proffer said.

"On almost any issue for this area, he was a backer," said former state Rep. Ollie Amick of Scott City, who shared an apartment with Dennis in Jefferson City.

State Sen. Peter Kinder was elected to fill the Senate seat after Dennis' retired. "He was a giant, and to say his shoes were hard to fill would be putting it mildly," Kinder said.

Kinder said as soon as he arrived at the Capitol it became clear the extent to which Dennis was held in special esteem. "It bordered on awe," he said.

Even eight years after he retired from the senate, people still talk about Dennis, Kinder said.

"He got anything he wanted for Southeast Missouri State University, for the counties he represented and for the people of Missouri," Kinder said.

Kinder said he relied on Dennis for advice, especially during his first few years in office. "He always gave advice freely, and I benefited from it," said Kinder.

Hearnes was chairman of the Joint Committee on Correctional Institutions and Problems, and Dennis was vice chairman.

Like many of the areas on which he worked, the prison system is better for having Dennis work on that committee, Hearnes said.

"We had a lot of problems and straightened out a lot of them," she said. During his time in office, she said, Dennis helped pass legislation that built more prisons, got more training for corrections officers and developed a better salary schedule for them.

Hearnes said she remembers how hard Dennis worked for funding for Southeast Missouri State University, which Mathewson said was known in the Senate as the university John Dennis built.

"We were facing hard times in the '80s, and it was difficult to get appropriations for the university passed," Hearnes recalled.

Proffer sad Dennis didn't attend college. He had to drop out of high school although he earned a GED when he served in the Army during World War II. But he always thought education was important and Southeast Missouri State was the only four-year institution in the region.

"He did an awful lot for the university even though he never attended it," said Spradling. "But he wanted to make sure youngsters had a chance to go to college, a chance he never had himself."

One reason Dennis was so effective, Hearnes believes, is that he made so many friends in the Legislature. "He was as well-liked in the Senate as anyone I knew," Hearnes said.

He was also well-liked by his constituents. "He was out in the area a lot," Hearnes said. He would go to barber shops, coffee shops and other places where people meet to find out what constituents' needs were, what they wanted him to work on for them, Hearnes said.

"I miss him, and I know others will miss him too," Proffer said. "But I'm sure John would look back and see so many areas he was able to work for."