After 40 years as treasurer of the Cook County DFL party, Bev Denyes (right) resigned this year. At the DFL County Convention on March 10, she received a standing ovation and a gift from DFL County Chair Diane Parker.
Back in 1972 gasoline cost 55 cents a gallon. The average U.S. worker brought home $165 a month and a new house cost $27,500. A Kodak pocket camera was 28 bucks and a hand-held scientific calculator was going to run you a steep $395.
Tie-dye shirts and flaredlegged pants and beads and long hair were still around, but they were fading like the smiley face buttons and the peace symbol that ruled the counterculture of the 1960s.
And in politics, 1972 was a big year. Richard Nixon was elected president of the United States and Bev Jacobsen (Denyes) was elected secretary/ treasurer of the Cook County Democratic Labor Party.
Bev went on to have a long distinguished tenure of service to her fellow man. As she retires, the Cook County News- Herald had a few questions.
In 1972 you had a lot on your plate—raising three energetic boys, Keith, Marty and Dean. The neighborhood was chock-full of noisy, busy kids and all of the mothers essentially had a roaming herd of kids to watch over. You also worked at the phone company as wire chief clerk, served as a Cub Scout Den mother for nine years and sang in the church choir. What led you to enter politics at such a busy time in your life?
Bev (laughing) responded: What do they say? It takes a village to raise children? Kids played outside back then. They wouldn’t come to the door, they would just stand outside and yell for one of the kids to come out and play. Those were wonderful times. Great times.
As far as getting into politics, my friend Pat Backlund was going to meetings and she invited me to go along. I was very interested in the process. I found it amazing that an individual, just any normal person, could make a difference if they got involved. Leonard Sobanja passed the gavel to me when I was elected to the secretary/ treasurer position. From there I attended local, regional and state conventions and just enjoyed the process.
Did you ever think you would make it 40 years as a volunteer with the local DFL party? No, I didn’t. I thought someone would step up and take the position. But overall it wasn’t really that much work and I enjoyed it. Still, it was time for me to retire. I will continue to participate as much as I can, but won’t be as active as I once was.
What has been the biggest change you have noticed in national politics? The meanness, lack of courtesy, untruths and innuendo and all of the money that is spent. Politicians on both sides need to learn to work together again for the good of the people. They are in constant gridlock, which serves no one.
Have you met any presidents? No, but I’ve met vice presidents Walter Mondale and Hubert Humphrey. I also got to know (U.S. Senator) Paul Wellstone and his wife Sheila. We had many great talks over the years.
What has been the best thing about your service? The opportunity to serve not only the DFL party but the county as a whole. I got to meet and work with many wonderful people. I have always felt blessed to live in this area and have tried to give back.
When I was little my family was very poor. There were pictures of Franklin Roosevelt on the walls and my mother told us stories about the Great Depression and what Roosevelt did to help the country. I have always loved the quote Eleanor Roosevelt would say, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow a mystery, today is a gift, that’s why it’s called the present.” I have always been inspired by that quote and by the way that Eleanor lived her life.
Two other quotes by Eleanor Roosevelt sum up Bev nicely: I could not at any age be content to take my place in a corner by the fireside and simply look on, and Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art.
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