Denis J. Shumate

Born in Larned, Kansas, August 1, 1938, Denis Johnson Shumate was the son of Robert Brown Shumate and Ruth Rosalie (nee Johnson) Shumate.
The Shumates moved from Ash Valley in Rush County to Garfield in Pawnee County in 1948. Denis fondly remembered his first day of school when he and his sister, Nonnie, had to walk to the end of their new rural driveway to get on the school bus. Greeted with stares from all the kids and even the bus driver checking out the "new kids", he and Nonnie were scared out of their wits.
It was not until Denis and Nonnie got to school that first day did Denis meet the rest his new fourth grade classmates, one of them a cute brunette with blue eyes, Karen Peterson - the beginning of a beautiful 69-year friendship.
By their sophomore year in high school, Karen and Denis began dating. They broke up when Karen went to Bethany College and Denis went to Fort Hays State University. After re-uniting at Nonnie's wedding to Wayne Steinert, they were again inseparable and married on a hot, hot August 14, 1960.
After the wedding, Denis and Karen moved to Lindsborg for Karen to finish her education degree and soon after moved back to Hays where Denis finished his Masters in Psychology.
Recruited as clinical psychologist at the Girls Industrial School in 1963, Denis and Karen, pregnant with Daren their first son, moved to their new home, Beloit, Kansas. Within two years, the family grew to four with the addition of a second son, Eric.
Showing promise as a leader, Denis was promoted to superintendent of the GIS in 1966, at age 27 where he was given charge of over 100 girls and 100 employees. Denis grew and flourished as superintendent where he was instrumental in leading policies and oversaw the transition from the GIS to the Youth Center at Beloit and finally the Beloit Juvenile Correctional Facility.
Early in his career, Denis was active in Rotary and Beloit JayCees and in fact ran the Beloit Trap Shoot for several years. Denis was an uncanny shot and often would hit 100 out of 100, even with a handicap! While his sons were in cub scouts, Denis was Pack 99 leader.
In his career, Denis rose to leadership roles at the National Association of Juvenile Correctional Agencies as national president, and the American Correctional Association serving on several policy committees.
In fact, Denis was recognized with the ACA's highest honor, the E.R. Cass award, in 2002, for outstanding service in corrections. Denis and Karen never missed an ACA convention and Denis proudly wore his Cass Award sash and medal at every ceremony.
Late in his career, Denis was appointed to fill a vacancy at the Beloit City Council and enjoyed participating in the leadership of his own community.
An avid outdoorsman, Denis especially loved pheasant and duck hunting and walleye fishing. In fact, ever a good farmboy, Denis welded his own floating duck blind and spent countless hours calling ducks and geese. Denis spent even more hours, days even, fishing lake Waconda with his favorite fishing buddy, his brother-in-law, Wayne Steinert who died in June 2015. Denis will be joining Wayne at that great walleye honey hole in the sky.
Denis' other great passion was woodworking. Never able to sit still, Denis designed and built beautiful furniture and was always engaged in a new project or a repair project for a friend. He loved working in walnut and often would find a falling-down barn to salvage the wood which would be transformed into beautiful furniture.
Denis dedicated his life to those in need, the downtrodden, the forgotten ones. Even into his retirement, through the Kansas Guardianship Program, Denis took care of three individuals who needed special assistance and help. In fact, Tony in Mankato, considers Denis to be his best friend. Denis was husband, father, grandfather, best friend, mentor, and leader.
But Denis was most proud of his family. Denis leaves behind, Karen, his wife of 56 years -and best friends of 69 years; his sons; Daren, his wife Daniela and their three children, Carl, Peter, and Anna of Alexandria, Virginia; and Eric of Des Moines, Iowa. Additionally, Denis was father to exchange student, Tommy Soberanis, from Merida, Yucatan, Mexico.
Denis died on March 28, 2017 at Mitchell County Hospital.

Funeral services will be at 2 PM Friday, March 31 at the Zion Lutheran Church in Beloit followed by burial in Elmwood Cemetery. Visitation will be from 2-8 PM with family present from 6-8 PM at the McDonald Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to the Beloit Community Concert or Mitchell County Regional Medical Foundation.