Jonce Chidister, 34
By Courtney Luke
Jonce Chidister has been Dunklin County's assistant prosecuting attorney since 2006, serving under both Steve Sokoloff and Jeff McCormick.
He was born in 1980 growing up in Malden. His mother is now a retired junior high and high school math teacher and his father has been in management at Helena Chemical, formerly Hawkins MFA, since 1983.
As a child, he played Little League baseball and attended Malden's First Southern Baptist Church where he is now chairman of the deacon board.
While in high school, he was a member of the Beta Club, competed in social studies competitions, played on the tennis and golf teams and was part of the yearbook and school newspaper staff.
As early as junior high, Jonce began to be interested in a career in law and immediately began making plans in that direction.
"I always enjoyed political history and legal history," he remembers, and continued that he especially enjoyed current event and social study classes with his teachers Ron Golden and Phil Blackiston.
After graduating from Malden High School in 1998, Jonce began pursuing a political science major and public law minor at Southwest Missouri State University.
While there, he was president of the Residence Hall Association and also served on the executive council of that organization.
During his summer breaks, he often worked for his dad at the chemical company. He also worked at Malden's Bootheel Youth Museum. He will soon begin his ninth year as a member of that same museum's board where he has served three years as president.
Jonce remembers that as a student of political science, the environment and mindset of his classes changed dramatically when the United States experienced attacks on September 11, 2001 and in fact, the entire world-view changed.
In 2002, he earned his bachelor of science degree. That fall, he began law school at the University of Missouri in Columbia.
During the Summer of 2003, he interned in the Dunklin County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.
"Being in this environment on a day to day basis- I developed a love for criminal law and a love for prosecution particularly," he explained.
When he returned to law school, he decided to focus on criminal law and trial practice enrolling in courtroom advocacy courses that provide courtroom practice.
He was soon given an opportunity to serve as an extern Chief Clerk of the Missouri House of Representatives. Jonce was also able to enroll in a criminal prosecution clinic at the University of Missouri and was allowed to litigate portions of a pending case in the Boone County Circuit Court while under the supervision of a practicing prosecutor.
In 2004, he received certification allowing him to present some cases on behalf of a prosecutor while still an intern.
In May 2005, he graduated from law school. Jonce took the bar exam that summer and received his law license and was sworn in as a member of the bar the following September.
Beginning in August 2005, he began working as a law clerk at the Missouri State Public Defenders Office in Kennett. After he received his law license, he then began working as a public defender assigned primarily to Stoddard County.
The following year, the position of assistant prosecuting attorney came available and Jonce was able to fill it. Eight and a half years later, he is still doing that job.
He enjoys the changing environment with the Prosecutor's Office, explaining that each day is different and he enjoys a courtroom with a variety of cases. But what he most likes about the position is the ability to see that justice is done and knowing that he can do what he can to help the community and the county in which he grew up.
"I enjoy and appreciate the opportunity I was given both by Steve Sokoloff and Jeff McCormick," he says of his tenure with the both prosecutors.
In addition to his service on the board of the Bootheel Youth Musuem, of which he says, "It's been an exciting time to have been a board member, particularly receiving the national recognition during my time on the Board, and continuing to partner with various organizations to bring those exhibits to the Malden community," Jonce is active in many other ways.
He has, for several years, been a board member, and even served as president for the Cottonboll Sheltered Workshop and the Cottonboll Handicap Home. He has been honored to serve during the shelter's rebuilding and construction project of the facility's new location.
Jonce has served as district officer of the Grand Lodge of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of the state of Missouri since 2007. He also serves as chairman of the state committee on bylaws. The district includes Dunklin, New Madrid, and Pemiscot Counties. Jonce is at least the third generation of his family to belong to the organization.
He is also a previous member of the Malden Parks and Recreation Board.
Jonce credits his grandfather, J.B. Gray, as being a strong influence on him encouraging him to be involved in his community. Mr. Gray was a Dunklin County Commisioner, a member of the Rural Association Board, among other things, and Jonce saw his grandfather's life as one he wanted to replicate. He also, as a young person, noted his mother's attendance and care for her students and his father's assistance to local farmers and found that inspiring.
In 2009, Jonce married his wife Danielle who is now an office manager at the H&R Block franchise in Dexter. Together, they enjoy traveling, kayaking Current River, and playing golf. They have visited Savannah, Georgia, Washington, D.C., the Smokey Mountains, and often Branson.
Jonce desires to always do the right thing to the best of his ability and to do whatever is needed to serve his community.
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