Jack Hensley

Dr. Jack A. Hensley was born in Cape Girardeau and taught at Southeast Missouri State University for 36 years.

He earned a bachelor of science at Southeast Missouri State University and began his teaching career in 1951 at Northeast Missouri State University, where he met his wife, Leita, at the beginning of fall semester 1957 and married her by the end of it. He completed graduate degrees at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Yale School of Drama, teaching for two years at Stephen F. Austin State in Texas before returning to teach theater history and speech at Southeast.

When he bought a house on Timber Lane in Cape Girardeau in 1966, he observed that everyone else on the street had a first initial and a middle name on the mailbox, so he mischievously followed suit, putting "J. Alton Hensley" on his, where it remained for the next 30 years.

He helped plan the construction of Rose Theatre at Southeast and directed 27 plays there, from "Candida" and "Romeo and Juliet" in 1964 to "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "Man of La Mancha" in the 1970s, ending his long run with "Carnival" in 1982. Theatre patrons enjoyed his affable manner at the theater box office window, where he coordinated ticket sales for shows his colleagues directed.

During his long and successful career at Southeast, Jack was a member of the State Council on the Arts theater advisory panel for 12 years and served on the Academic Council, Alumni Council, Commencement Committee, Executive Committee of the 1973 centennial celebration, the Board of Publications and the Faculty Emeritus Committee. He taught in London during the first year of the Missouri London Program in 1984.

After retiring, Jack and Leita traveled to Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Italy and frequently to England, in between trips all over the U.S. and Canada, visiting friends and family, touring theaters and seeing plays. They shared their love of live performance with children and grandchildren; a week in London with them might include 14 shows, with a matinee and an evening performance every day. Jack's last trip was to New York City in August to see the Royal Shakespeare Company.

He was a patient teacher, a good croquet partner, a charming conversationalist and a thoughtful person who occasionally could not resist a joke; when he was glad to leave a party, he would heartily shake the hand of the host and say "Thank you. I enjoyed myself."

He is survived by his wife Leita of Cape Girardeau; his daughter, Jeanne Hensley Griggs, son-in-law Ron and grandchildren Eleanor and Walker of Mount Vernon, Ohio; and his son Allen Hensley, daughter-in-law Margaret and grandchildren Claire and Sylvia of Crystal Lake, Ill.

A memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Nov. 26 at Centenary Methodist Church in Cape Girardeau. Gifts can be made to a scholarship in honor of Dr. Hensley at the Southeast Missouri State University Foundation or to Centenary Methodist Church.

Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.