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Former governor nominee and party chair Betty Hearnes dies
CHARLESTON, Mo. — Former political powerhouse and Southeast Missouri trailblazer Betty Hearnes died Thursday, Dec. 14. She was 96 years old.
Hearnes, a longtime Charleston resident, was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1979 and reelected four times. In 1987, she was elected chairwoman of the Missouri Democratic Party. In 1988, she was the Democratic nominee for governor of Missouri following an overwhelming victory in the Democratic primary. She lost to John Ashcraft in a bid to become the state’s first woman governor. She was formerly a teacher, a leader within the Missouri Baptist Convention and was known to sing at important events. She was also a supporter of the arts.
Betty Hearnes was the wife of Democrat Warren Eastman Hearnes, the 46th governor of Missouri, who served in that capacity from 1965 to 1973. They were married from 1947 until the time of his death in 2009.
Betty Hearnes was born in Brinkley, Arkansas, on July 24, 1927, to the Rev. Allen Britten Cooper and Janie May Lawrence Cooper. She moved with her family to Charleston in 1932, where her father became pastor of the First Baptist Church.
In 1966, she won an honorary “Woman of the Year” award from the Business and Professional Women’s Club in Charleston.
In a newspaper article published in 1968, Betty Hearnes spoke at a gathering by the Young Democrats of State College in Cape Girardeau. The article referenced she had worked 18 years within the organization. She spoke of teaching in Charleston before she got into politics. In 1968, Betty Hearnes sang the national anthem at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. A year later, Warren Hearnes announced plans to appoint his wife to a task force on hunger in Missouri.
In 1973, the Democrat was the first woman to be appointed to the Missouri Baptist Convention, named along with “Mrs. George Hammond” of Festus, Missouri, according to newspaper archives. In 1981, Betty Hearnes was appointed to a Select Committee on Preservation of Agricultural Land for the state of Missouri. In 1992, Peter Kinder defeated Betty Hearnes in a battle for the 27th District Senate seat.
Betty Hearnes was instrumental in establishing the Missouri Arts Council. She was honored along with her husband in 1995 by winning the DeVerne Lee Calloway Award. Betty Hearnes was a “driving force” in establishing the council and securing financial support from the legislature. She also instrumental in bringing the Southeast Correctional Center to Charleston.
Betty Hearnes was nominated to many government boards and commissions, both statewide and locally. A music scholarship was established in her name through the Southeast Missouri State University Foundation.
Family, friends and community members reeled Friday from the news of Hearnes’ death.
Among those was family friend and former Mississippi County Clerk Hubert “Junior” DeLay Jr.
“She led a good life — a very, very productive life,” DeLay said of Hearnes. “Her life is definitely one to be celebrated.”
DeLay said he and Hearnes have so many memories, it’s hard to pick a favorite.
“When she ran for governor, my wife and I were very active in her campaign. We walked in parades for her, and we had a lot of fun being around her,” DeLay said.
Hearnes was also very supportive when DeLay first ran for office as county clerk in 1982, he said.
DeLay said he loved hearing Hearnes’ interesting stories.
“Who could have experienced what she has gone through in her life — serving as first lady of Missouri, running for governor, and she was a very effective state representative?” DeLay said. “She was the first lady of Charleston for many, many years.”
DeLay pointed out Hearnes later opened the Hearnes Museum in Charleston.
“I hope she’s remembered for all she has done for the community of Charleston, the county of Mississippi and state of Missouri,” DeLay said. “We loved her so much.”
Longtime friend Terry A. Parker of Charleston said Betty Hearnes was always “ready to go to-bat for the underdog.”
“There wasn’t anything she was afraid to tackle or fix for the better,” Parker said . “It doesn’t matter if it were personal problems, issues in the church, issues in the state — she was very selfless. I witnessed that a lot here in our local community when we’d be struggling economically — or families were struggling or down on their luck.”
Hearnes was constantly educating herself about needs and what she could do to help fix a problem, Parker said. Whatever the need, he said, Hearnes put her self aside.
“If she didn’t feel it was morally right or ethical, she didn’t want a part of it,” Parker said. “It always came back to her faith and church. The church was the base of her life, always.”
On a personal level, Parker said Hearnes was also very supportive when he had the opportunity to be appointed as Mississippi County coroner 20 years ago.
“She just guided me the whole way,” he said.
Parker said he can’t remember a time not knowing Hearnes. The two participated in many church and musical events together over the years.
“When I first started playing the pipe organ, I was scared to death to play under the direction of her. She told me: ‘Well, it won’t fall out of the wall,’” Parker recalled with a laugh.
Parker said Hearnes sang with “her beautiful, soprano voice” at countless weddings and funerals. She was also an organist and pianist and a former school music teacher.
He noted Hearnes sang the national anthem at the 1968 Democratic National Convention during turbulent times in Chicago.
“She had such a vision for church music,” said Parker, who noted Hearnes’ father was a minister. “That was her life.”
And she was ahead of the times, aways looking to bring in musicians the small-town church normally wouldn’t have access to, Parker said. In 1994 Hearnes started the piano praise concert in Charleston — long before big-city churches started doing them. Parker said he recently saw where a First Baptist Church in Nashville started its piano praise in 2007.
She was dedicated, Parker said. When she was a state legislator, she would drive home during the week or on a Friday for church choir practice and then turn around and drive back to Jefferson City. She wanted to ensure the church choir remained well-rounded and didn’t falter, Parker said.
And Hearnes loved her family, Parker said.
“Her daughters and grandchildren were very central in her life,” he said.
Betty Hearnes is survived by two daughters and her grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, one daughter and multiple siblings.
A private entombment for family only will be at the Hearnes Mausoleum in the IOOF Cemetery at Charleston under the direction of McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston. Plans are being finalized for a musical celebration of Hearnes’ life at a later date.
Leonna Heuring with the Standard Democrat contributed to this article.