Denny to be inducted into Connors College Hall of Fame
Connors College, 1954-56, he was the ROTC officer in charge of the arsenal.
Johnie Dale Denny, formerly of Sallisaw, will be inducted into the Connors College Hall of Fame at the Connors College annual reunion on Saturday, April 29, beginning at 11 a.m.
Denny was born on July 16, 1936, to John and Jewell Denny in Sallisaw. He graduated from Sallisaw High School in 1954.
While attending Connors College, 1954-56, he was the ROTC officer in charge of the arsenal.
He received his bachelor’s degree in 1958, and his masters in 1965, both from Northeastern State University.
A classroom teacher for 30 years, he retired in 1987.
A charter member of the Tulsa Genealogical Society, he received their Honor of Associateship award in 1985, and he was first to receive the award from the society.
He married Amanda Ledbetter of Pryor in Tulsa in 1967. The Tulsa Genealogical Library was named for her after her death on May 28, 1991.
A member of the Connors College Alumni and Friends Association for over 20 years, he and Carol Holestine saved the association from going under. Their first reunion was a “carry-in banquet.”
Denny directed the Denny-Denney Reunion at Sallisaw for 50 years.
He was also a member of the Tulsa Cultural Center for the Blind for 15 years, and received their Outstanding Volunteer award for 2018-19.
He is a member of the National Education and Oklahoma Education Associations, and was delegate to two National Conferences, one in Washington D.C. and one in San Francisco.
He has also been a member of Tulsa Boston Avenue Methodist Church since 1962.
Other honors include being director for the Tulsa Special Olympics for several years in the 1960s, member of the Tulsa Junior Chamber of Commerce, member of the Cherokee Nation, cofounder of the Tsa-La-gi Cherokee Club of Tulsa in the 1970s, member of the Sequoyah County Historical Society, and a 7-year member of the Tulsa Indian Health Care Center.
