Gov. John M. Dalton Memorial Highway dedicated Friday

From left, Johnny Dalton; Marianne Dalton; John Wall Dalton; Rayanna Dalton; Mo. Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder; Dist. 163 Rep. Otto Bean, Jr., R-Holcomb; Mo. Sen. Rob Mayer, R-Dexter; Missouri Highway Commissioner Duane Michie; Mo. Rep. Dr. Terry Swinger, D-Caruthersville; David Dalton; Margaret Dalton; and Katie Dalton Friday at the dedication ceremony of the Gov. John M. Dalton Memorial Highway at Kennett's American Legion building.

An A-list of state government officials, area dignitaries and honored guests were in Kennett Friday to celebrate the dedication of the Gov. John Montgomery Dalton Memorial Highway.

Kennett's American Legion building was packed with such political luminaries as Mo. Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder; state Sen. Rob Mayer, R-Dexter; District 162 state Rep. Terry Swinger, D-Caruthersville; District 163 state Rep. Otto Bean, Jr., R-Holcomb; Kennett Mayor Donald Parker; Dunklin County Prosecutor Stephen Sokoloff; Dunklin County Sheriff Bob Holder; Kennett Municipal Court Judge J. Michael Mowrer; Missouri Highway Commissioner Duane Michie; Dunklin County Drug Court Commissioner Phillip Britt; Kennett Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jan McElwrath and Chamber President Randy Morgan, all of whom were on hand to honor the memory and achievements of the late governor; his wife, Geraldine "Jerry" Hall Dalton; and the late governor's surviving family, who hosted the event.

Members of the immediate Dalton family present Friday were attorney John Hall Dalton and his wife, Marianne; attorney Johnny Dalton and his wife Rayanna; and Kennett City Councilman and banker David Dalton, his wife Margaret and their 2-year-old daughter, Katie.

From left, Kennett Municipal Court Judge J. Michael Mowrer, John Hall Dalton and Missouri Highway Commissioner Duane Michie Friday at the dedication ceremony for the Gov. John M. Dalton Memorial Highway. [Click to enlarge]

Keynote speakers at the event included Kennett's Carl Williams, who was responsible for suggesting naming the stretch of U.S. 412 between Kennett's eastern edge and Hayti's western border for the late governor; Parker; former Kennett Schools Supt. Dr. John McMullan; Swinger; Mayer; Bean; and Kinder.

John Hall Dalton offered the crowd anecdotes about his family throughout the event.

"Several of my friends who were younger than I say, 'We didn't know your mother and father because they were in Jefferson City most of the time,'" John Hall Dalton said. "But their roots remained in Dunklin County.

Mo. Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder at Friday's dedication of the Gov. John M. Dalton Memorial Highway at Kennett's American Legion building. [Click to enlarge]

"Let me tell you a little bit about that," he quipped. "Mother was born at Cardwell. The story in the family is that daddy was living in Senath at the Bertha Hotel. Mother and her parents came up to Senath to have dinner on Sunday. They were introduced. Family tradition says that it was love at first sight. Now, I'm not sure about that. But that's what they always said. So, what you honor today, and what the General Assembly and Governor Kinder has done -- you honor my mother. You honor my father. Because they were a team. They worked together. She worked hard at it. She was a whole lot better politician than he was."

Williams thanked the lieutenant governor and the Missouri Department of Transportation, "who made this a reality," he said.

"I am very proud to have played a very small role in this undertaking," Williams said.

John Hall Dalton, left, listens as Carl Williams speaks about his friendship with Mo. Gov. John Dalton at the dedication Friday of the Gov. John M. Dalton Memorial Highway. [Click to enlarge]

Parker noted that John M. Dalton was "a politician's politician" whose grassroots efforts paid off for his constituents.

"[Gov. Dalton] lived at Jefferson City," Parker said. "But his heart was in Southeast Missouri and his home was in Kennett."

McMullan called the late governor "a great supporter of education" and said Dalton forwarded higher education in the state.

Kennett's Jack Astrachan, left, and District 163 state Rep. Otto Bean, Jr., R-Holcomb, Friday at the dedication ceremony . [Click to enlarge]

He added that the late governor was in 1961 responsible for the full funding of the state's education formula by the General Assembly.

Swinger cited Dalton's leadership and humility as beacons for him to follow into public service, and Bean said Dalton's wife, Geraldine, was an inspiration and role model for his own wife, Janet.

Mayer noted that the late governor "vetoed 31 pieces of legislation" during his career.

District 162 Rep. Terry Swinger left, and John Hall Dalton Friday at the dedication of the Gov. John M. Dalton Memorial Highway at Kennett's American Legion building. [Click to enlarge]

"That record stands today," he quipped.

Kinder, who hails from Cape Girardeau, said the late governor was one of his boyhood heroes whose "largeness of spirit" was second only to Dalton's compassion for his constituents.

"It was an inspiration to me," Kinder said. "The governor from the great State of Missouri would come from the same part of the state that I was privileged to be born in and live all my life in.

Kennett City Councilman David Dalton and his wife, Margaret, with their daughter Katie, 2, Friday at the dedication ceremony of the Gov. John M. Dalton Memorial Highway at the American Legion building at Kennett. [Click to enlarge]

"Among the highest privileges and honors I've had in my brief career was to be able to sign that bill in the presence of members of the Dalton family earlier this year, while the governor was out of the state for a couple of days," the lieutenant governor continued. "I do remember a thing or two about Governor Dalton that speaks enormously well for him. He is responsible for the appointment of a great and dear family friend of my family's from Cape Girardeau to the Missouri Supreme Court. John Hall [Dalton], you will remember after the 1964 election, but before your father left office, he appointed a man named James Finch."

Finch was an "outstanding curator" at the University of Missouri, Kinder said.

"He was a Republican," Kinder said. "Not withstanding that party label, Governor Dalton, in a time somewhat less partisan than the one we live in now, recognized distinguished legal talent and an honorable man and appointed him to the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, where he served with great distinction until his retirement.

"So, I think that says a lot about the largeness of spirit of a John M. Dalton," Kinder added. "The largeness of spirit that Missourians always want to look for in our public servants and in our leaders. It is therefore a great honor for me to join you today to salute this great man and to congratulate the Dalton family."