Colleagues recall late Southeast Missouri State professor's legacy

Henry M. Sessoms Sr. is being remembered by former Southeast Missouri State University colleagues for his longtime steady chairmanship of the school's English department and for his enthusiasm.

"He was in his element as department chair, was a good administrator and ran the department smoothly," said John Bierk, who taught modern American literature at SEMO in his 30-year tenure, adding a fast friendship developed between them once Sessoms arrived on campus to teach in the early 1960s.

Sessoms, a Nashville, Tennessee, native, chaired Southeast's Department of English from 1968 to 1993 and retired in 1999 after 38 years on SEMO's faculty.

Southeast Missouri State graduate student Dang Bui descends the stairs to Academic Hall after taking in the sunset Wednesday, July 22, 2020, in Cape Girardeau. Bui is enrolled in the university's TESOL program which is designed to train professionals to teach people who are learning to speak English as another language.BEN MATTHEWS ~ bmatthews@semissourian.com

The educator, instrumental in establishing the university's Missouri London program in 1982 -- which allowed Southeast students to study with SEMO faculty in England -- died Saturday at age 86 after a year of declining health.

"We were a pretty provincial college when I started at Southeast," said former department colleague Robert Hamblin, who founded the Center for William Faulkner Studies on campus.

"Thanks in some measure to Henry's efforts, Southeast obtained an international connection with the London program, giving us a much broader perspective."

Sessoms also served for two years as director of SEMO's Center for International Studies.

"While he was laid back and quiet, Henry had a zest, an enthusiasm, for life," Hamblin noted. "Henry had a tender heart and had great empathy for people and could get quite emotional at departmental meetings."

Bierk echoed Hamblin's recollection of their late teaching colleague.

"(Henry) could break down over almost anything, which I appreciated because I'm the same way," Bierk said.

Hamblin recalled Sessoms' intellectual curiosity and athleticism.

"He was an 18th century scholar, a voracious reader and loved biographies and teaching Chaucer," he said.

"Henry was also a fine athlete, playing basketball and tennis well into his senior years. He was also an avid walker and I can recall him climbing the Old Courthouse steps in Cape with late colleagues Max Cordonnier and Martin Needels."

Hamblin has written a poem, "We Smile As We Go," in Sessoms' memory.

The poem's opening stanza reads, "The heroes fall, one by one, death being the ticket we all must purchase in order to live."

Sessoms is survived by his wife, Tamara, two children and three grandsons.