Dr. Lyle Dee Hensley, former superintendent in the Lake of the Ozarks districts of School of the Osage and Eldon Public Schools, died Monday, October 13th, in Lee’s Summit (MO), St. Luke’s Hospital. Dr. Hensley was born November 6, 1921, on a farm south of Stickerville in Sullivan County, Missouri, and was a son of Mary Ivah Hensley and Edward TrumanContinue Reading
Dr. Lyle Dee Hensley, former superintendent in the Lake of the Ozarks districts of School of the Osage and Eldon Public Schools, died Monday, October 13th, in Lee’s Summit (MO), St. Luke’s Hospital. Dr. Hensley was born November 6, 1921, on a farm south of Stickerville in Sullivan County, Missouri, and was a son of Mary Ivah Hensley and Edward Truman Hensley. He had three brothers and two sisters; all preceded him in death.
On November 16th, 1947, he was united in marriage to Mina Jo Poe, and they celebrated their sixty-fifth anniversary November 1, 2006. Jo preceded Lyle in death on September 16, 2007. They had an infant son, Lyle Dee Hensley, Jr., who passed away in 1949. Lyle is survived by a son, Criss Alan Hensley, Lee’s Summit, and numerous nieces, nephews and friends.
Dr. Hensley attended several one-room, rural schools and graduated from Emerson High School in Marion County, Missouri. He received an Associate Degree in Arts from Moberly Junior College and a Bachelor of Science in Education from Northeast Missouri Teachers College (now Truman State University) in Kirksville prior to enlistment in the U.S. Army during World War II. In 1948 he received his Masters of Arts Degree from the University of Kansas City, and a Doctorate of Education was conferred by the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1966. Dr. Hensley was a veteran of both World War II and the Korean Conflict. He was a 60-year member of the American Legion and a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). During military service he was stationed in Iceland and Japan.
Dr. Hensley was a professional educator who made major contributions to education across the state of Missouri and within his communities. His leadership work is noted in the many educational and civic organizations memberships and offices he held which included the following: Missouri State Teachers Association (MSTA), the Missouri Association of School Administrators (MASA), Missouri Retired Teachers Association (MRTA); Kiwanis Clubs (multi-states), Eldon (MO) Lions Club, and charter member of the Lake of the Ozarks Rotary Club. He was past president of the University of Missouri College of Education Alumni Association; was second vice president of the Missouri Association of Social Welfare; was a four-time member of the Governor’s Conference on Education; and was appointed by Governor Kit Bond as a Regent of Central Missouri State University-Warrensburg; and was appointed as Regent Emeritus on June 17, 2003. The Missouri Association of School Administrators selected Dr. Hensley as an outstanding Emeritus Educator in 1996-97.
In 1987 Dr. Hensley retired after forty years as a school administrator and resided in Springfield and Lee’s Summit, Missouri. He began his career as Superintendent of Schools in Craig, Missouri in 1947, and following a year of service during the Korean Conflict, he returned to Missouri and became Superintendent in a reorganized district designated as North Platte High School, located in Dearborn. This was to become a model for much of his administrative work, reorganization of school districts to incorporate small community schools into a consolidated public school district, where much attention was given to “uniting” the residents to support necessary school facilities and improved finances, curriculum and instruction.
In 1959 Dr. Hensley was named Superintendent of the Eldon (MO) Public School District, a position he held for the next eighteen years. Among his leadership successes within that district were the following: built a new senior high school and a new elementary school on a new site; added classrooms to existing buildings; facilitated consolidation of several small school districts in Morgan and Miller Counties, which resulted in state and court-ordered reorganization of the entire Eldon School District; created an Outboard Motor and Boat Refinishing School for unemployed citizens which provided needed personnel for marinas on Lake of the Ozarks; established the Tri-County Technical School to serve high school students and adults in the Lake area; and secured a bond issue to build a new Junior High School. His creative leadership and knowledge of school finance were noted in his securing funding from multiple local, state and federal sources to develop programs which met students’ and community members’ educational and economic development needs. During this time he also taught off-campus graduate courses in School Finance and Administration for Central Missouri State University-Warrensburg.
In 1977 Dr. Hensley accepted the position of Superintendent of Schools at School of the Osage District, located in the Bagnell Dam area of Lake Ozark, Missouri. During his ten-year tenure at School of the Osage, which was experiencing rapid student growth, he administered and coordinated the following activities: major improvements in both buildings and financial management with a focus on future planning; provided leadership for selection of a new site and passed a bond issue to construct a creatively-designed high school and esthetically pleasing and state-of-the-art football field and all-weather track on the 113-acre property near Kaiser, Missouri. During the dedication of the high school, the gymnasium was named to honor a long-time coach, Bud Henderson, and his wife, Helen Henderson who had also been a teacher in the district. The Bud and Helen Henderson Foundation was then established to offer college scholarships to district students. The foundation later became the School of the Osage Foundation to accommodate all scholarships from local donors. In March, 2010, Dr. Hensley and his son, Criss, established the Jo Hensley Memorial Scholarship through a donation to that foundation.
As a result of Dr. Hensley’s creative and futuristic leadership and a like-minded Board of Education, a model was established for the district and it’s public to continue exemplary facilities and programming for the district’s students. Hence, in October, 2009, the Board of Education for School of the Osage District honored Dr. Hensley by dedicating the site of School of the Osage High School, located on Highway 42 near Kaiser, Missouri, as the Dr. Lyle D. Hensley High School Campus.
Funeral arrangements are planned by Greenlawn Funeral Home South, located at 441 West Battlefield in Springfield, Missouri 65807. Visitation is scheduled for Thursday, October 16, 2014, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the funeral home. A private service and entombment in Hazelwood Cemetery will follow on Friday. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to the Jo Hensley Memorial Scholarship Fund managed by Central Bank of Lake of the Ozarks, 3848 Highway 54, P. O. Box 207, Osage Beach, Missouri 65065.
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