Locals provide fond memories of longtime Benton mayor

Editor's Note: The relationship between Joe Stuckey and Joey Duffield has been clarified below.

It's a raw time for friends and family of Joe Stuckey, who served as mayor of Benton, Missouri, since 1991.

Stuckey, 68, died suddenly Wednesday while at a local Subway restaurant. The cause of his death was not available Thursday.

Some who knew and loved him, such as City Clerk Connie Barnett, declined to say much amid their grief. But others, such as longtime political colleague and Scott County Presiding Commissioner Jamie Burger, waxed eloquent on the subject of their just-departed friend.

"I think anytime anybody has been in public service for as long as he was is remarkable," Burger said, referring to Stuckey's many consecutive mayoral terms, as well as his time as a Benton alderman from 1978 to 1991.

Burger continued: "I think we've lost a good person and a good spokesman for the city of Benton."

He described Stuckey as conservative, but someone who also "knew when dollars should be spent." Those who interacted with the mayor knew where he stood on the issues most important to him, Burger added.

Some projects Stuckey addressed jointly with the commission included road widening and street repairs in and around Benton, improvements around the county courthouse and sewage lagoon issues, among others. Burger said he considered himself fortunate to have spoken with Stuckey on some of these topics the day before he died.

Members of Stuckey's immediate family declined to comment.

Barnett, who worked for Stuckey for 22 years, had difficulty remaining composed on the phone.

"When you're [in] a small town, you work together as friends," she said Thursday, referring a reporter to a posting about Stuckey she had prepared on the Benton, Missouri, Facebook page.

In it, Barnett talks about Stuckey's passion for the city of 732 people and his efforts to make it "financially prepared."

"Think about it," she says in the posting. "How many people would give 36 years of their time, for a very thankless position, if [they] didn't love Benton and the people in it?"

She also described Stuckey as perennially dapper -- "a very classy man, normally dressed in khaki pants and perfectly ironed shirt, hair never seemed to be out of place." She added: "But when he had a problem such as a sewer line clogged or a water main break, he was there. He was in the middle of it."

Joey Duffield, whose ex-wife is Stuckey's great-niece, described the mayor as "a great guy" with a gift for gab.

Duffield said almost without fail, Stuckey visited the local Subway restaurant or the County Seat Cafe each morning before work to hold court with the regulars over coffee.

"The main thing I think you're going to hear from people is [they will miss his] conversations," Duffield said.

Some of Duffield's fondest memories of Stuckey were the times they sat together in the mayor's insurance office -- Stuckey was a longtime agent for Shelter Insurance -- and simply shooting the breeze.

The insurance client/former great-nephew-in-law recalled the way Stuckey would lean back in his chair and tent his fingers while expressing one of his many opinions. "He always threw his 2 cents in on everything."

The two especially liked talking about cars, particularly trading them in for nicer models. They spent about 30 minutes "yakking" recently about a change in Duffield's insurance policy and Stuckey's new vehicle.

"He had been looking for a used truck," Duffield said, and ended up trading in his Ford Taurus for a Chrysler 300 -- a process he embarked on about every two years.

Duffield asked Stuckey about the trade, and Stuckey replied, "Well, they gave me a deal I couldn't refuse."

Jim Simmons, a Benton alderman who has served for almost five years but who knew Stuckey for 40 more, said his heart aches to see his friend and colleague gone -- who was a giant Kelly High School Hawks fan.

"He dedicated his life to this town," Simmons said. "He truly did."

Stuckey is survived by his wife, Ann; his son, Sean, of Columbia, Missouri; his daughter, Michelle Stuckey of St. Louis; a grandson; three brothers; and a sister.

Arrangements are being handled by Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel of Benton. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday at St. Denis Catholic Church in Benton and from 8 a.m. until the service at 10 a.m. Saturday. Burial will be in St. Denis Cemetery.