In the News...

Senators Honor Centenarian Colleague

Wednesday, April 14 2010

The Cortez Journal
By: Joe Hanel
April 14th, 2010

DENVER - Arthur Wayne Denny of Cortez lived 101 years. He needed every single one to accomplish all he did.

During his life, he was a college track star, a World War II veteran, a county assessor, a state senator, a dedicated bowler and a dad who played pranks on his kids by putting rocks in their sleeping bags.

"He was something else," said stepdaughter Arlene Allen, who was Denny's caretaker in his later years.

State senators paid tribute to their former colleague Monday morning, while Denny's wife, Viola, and 15 other friends and family members watched.

The Republican served his Southwest Colorado district from 1967 to 1970 and was chairman of the Senate Water Committee during a pivotal time in Colorado water law.

In 1969, the Legislature passed the Water Rights Determination Act. That bill established water courts and integrated groundwater into Colorado's water rights systems. Groundwater law continues to vex lawmakers, with controversies from the farm country of Northeast Colorado to the coalbed methane fields in Denny's old district.

Sen. Bruce Whitehead, D-Hesperus, sponsored the memorial for Denny.

Senators perked up when a Senate clerk read the first words of the memorial.

"Whereas, our respected former colleague, Arthur Wayne Denny, a past member of the Colorado Senate, departed this life on January 1, 2010, at the age of 101..."

"Wow," several senators said.

"I can't imagine the changes you see in 101 years," Whitehead said.

Denny was a track star at the University of Colorado and for a long time held school records, Allen said. Most of CU's school records have been broken in the past 20 years, and Denny's marks no longer stand.

As a U.S. Army lieutenant during World War II, he served under Gen. George Patton during the campaign that liberated Western Europe.

He was nearly 60 when a vacancy committee picked him to serve in the state Senate seat of Ray Braiden, who died before his term was over. Denny led the water committee during the landmark 1969 law, and he served on six other committees, including transportation, agriculture and livestock, and natural resources. Those issues remain important to the Four Corners, Whitehead said.

But Denny's life was just getting started when he left the Legislature in 1970.

He served a term as Montezuma County assessor and made a living as an appraiser. He took up bowling and became a member of the American Bowling Congress. He bowled until the last few years of his life.

The day after Christmas in 1977, he married Viola Denny and became stepfather to her children.

Allen and her sister, Claudean Boatman, remember playing in the county assessor's office and seeing their names on county maps.

"He would name creeks after us," Boatman said.

She was pleased with the Senate's memorial.

"It was moving and respectful and an affirmation of who he was and his influence," Boatman said.

The memorial reminded her of the effects her dad had on others.

"It doesn't stop when you die. Your influence doesn't stop," Boatman said.

Part of that influence is visible today at Denny Lake Park on the eastern edge of Cortez. The park sits on land that Denny donated to the city.

Whitehead often stops there with his children.

"It's a beautiful park. I would encourage anyone to stop there and enjoy his legacy," Whitehead said.

Denny died on New Year's Day this year. He told Allen that morning that he was prepared to die.

"He had quite the life. I still wasn't ready for him to go," Allen said.