The late Dr. Allen Dennis, the “singing history professor,” will be remembered on Saturday, Dec. 8 from 3 to 5 PM in the green room of Jobe Auditorium on campus. The Delta State University community and the general public are invited to pay their respects to his family. Light refreshments will be served.
Dennis, 75, taught U.S. history and specialized in the Civil War, writing and performing songs from the era; portraying President Abraham Lincoln; and assuming the guise of Jimmie Rodgers with his guitar on riverboat tours. He began teaching at Delta State in 1968, became chair of the history department in 1993, and retired in that role in 1998. Dennis was the play-by-play announcer for Delta State home basketball games and wrote a song, “Ballad of the Lady Statesmen,” during the Lady Statesmen’s championship run in 1978.
“Allen was an exceptional person and a friend,” said Delta State President Emeritus Dr. Kent Wyatt in an obituary. “He was well-liked by everyone, was exceptionally bright, and was a good writer as well as academician. He was the backbone of the faculty movement trying to enhance Delta State.”
After retiring from Delta State, Dennis chaired the history department at Troy University until 2005 and was associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences until 2006.
A prolific scholar, Dennis received the outstanding faculty award from Delta State and from Troy.
He was the first member of his family to graduate college, earning a bachelor’s degree from Tennessee Wesleyan College and a master’s degree and a doctorate from Mississippi State University. He periodically served as an interim minister for the Church of Christ, preached for area churches, and directed music at various churches. And he was a former member of the Mississippi Humanities Council’s speakers bureau, former member of the Bolivar County Community Action Program, and former president of the Cleveland Lions Club.
Dennis died on Nov. 5 at St. Dominic Hospital in Jackson, Miss., after a lengthy illness. For another obituary, click here.
Listen to him sing about Delta State women’s basketball.
