Family, friends remember Ron Jennings with songs, memories, parade

Ron Jennings was remembered Monday with songs, stories and a lot of laughs — which is just the way he planned it.

Jennings, longtime reporter and columnist for the Sedalia Democrat, died Friday at age 62 after years of battling brain cancer. On Monday, an overflow crowd of about 450 people packed into First Christian Church for a memorial service that centered on celebrating his life and deeds.

Jennings’ wife, Pat, said that when he went into hospice care, he kept asking questions about plans for his memorial service.

She said, “He didn’t want people to be sad, he wanted them to have a fun time.”

That they did. Old family photos and passages from Jennings’ columns were projected onto a screen. The crowd burst into laughter when this passage came up: “There are 400 times more bacteria on a desktop than on a toilet seat. I don’t want to know how they came up with that.”

Tim Whitmore, a commisioned minister at First Christian Church, led off the ceremony, saying Jennings was “a blessing to all of us” and noting the patience, kindness and humility Jennings exhibited in all facets of his life.

“He had an amazing capacity to see nothing but the best in everyone,” Whitmore said.

Jennings considered the high points of his professional life as the publication of his book, “Reflections and Ruminations of an Aging Rookie,” and being inducted into the Missouri Press Association Newspaper Hall of Fame in September. Whitmore praised Jennings, with whom he had been an elder at the church, as a gifted writer with an amazing spirit and unfailing optimism.

Democrat Managing Editor Dennis Rich spoke of how Jennings was a mentor for him and others at the paper. He also shared an amusing story about Jennings telling Pat he had taken some pills he was given while covering the Ozark Music Festival in 1974; scandalous as it sounded, they wound up being salt tablets to help with dehydration.

Speaking on behalf of the Democrat, Rich said: “Ron doesn’t belong to us; he belongs to all of you.”

Jennings’ sister, Tammy Heath, and her husband, Andy, performed a touching rendition of the hymn “Pass It On.”

Then his brother, Steve, noted that Jennings “has only been in heaven three and a half days and look at the strings he has pulled with this beautiful day.”

Steve Jennings said his brother faced physical challenges growing up, including cerebral palsy and a heart murmur. He also carried a love of history and President John F. Kennedy that stayed with him until his final days. He also said his brother “treated everyone with respect.”

“In his eyes, everyone has a story,” Steve Jennings said. “It is important and deserves to be told.”

Family, friends and well-wishers then gathered at Main Street and Ohio Avenue. Jennings loved parades, and this one included about 150 people making their way south on Ohio to the Fox Theater Events Center on the courthouse square for a wake.

Jennings enjoyed singing and was a charter member of the State Fair Statesmen barbershop singers. About 20 of his former colleagues performed a collection of songs, including one of Jennings’ favorites, “My Wild Irish Rose.” For a finale, those attending joined in on “Let Me Call You Sweetheart.”

Singer John Wolf said some of the group members hadn’t seen one another for 15 years, and they only practiced for about 30 minutes before the performance.

“Ron always was the face of the barbershop group,” Wolf said. “He had that smile, so we always put him up front. ... He’s a great guy, we miss him.”

Friends and family members shared stories with the crowd, almost all of them ending with laughter.

Pat Jennnings said the service and wake “were just wonderful.”

She said her husband had been asking her repeatedly if she had written his obituary. She kept putting it off, saying she would work on it later.

On the night of Jan. 10, she said, “I decided I need to do this.” After finishing it, she presented it to him, and he nodded his approval.

Ron Jennings died three days later.

“Once the deadline was met, he decided to move on,” Pat said.

She told the crowd, “Ron would be thrilled that you came, that you cared, that you remember him well.”

Ron and Pat’s daughters, Katie Poynter and Megan Simon, sang “Papa’s Gonna Make It Alright” from the musical “Shenandoah” — a song Ron used to sing to them — as a tribute to their father.

Whitmore said, “Ron had an authentic smile that he shared generously with all.”

He also touched on Jennings’ knack for getting in the frame of Democrat photographers’ photos of the events he was covering.

Whitmore said Jennings “left a legacy of love that will always be in the picture.”