Reflecting on the time he spent in the senate, Posey said Dearing was always willing to take a younger member under his wing.

“It didn’t matter what your college was or where you were from, Sen. Dearing was going to help you,” he said.

The Rev. Dennis Flach said one of Dearing’s enduring legacies would be the fact that he always worked for people. Flach said his first memory of Dearing was seeing him sitting in a coffee shop, meeting with people to hear what they needed.

“He was giving himself over to the service of listening with compassion,” Flach said.

In one instance, Flach said the senator helped him get medical treatment for a man who had a treatable disease but did not have insurance and had been denied continuity care locally.

“I felt like I had exhausted the resources I could turn to,” Flach said. “With one phone call getting directly to Sen. Bob Dearing, it was less than 24 hours after that phone call to the time that this individual who had been suffering could get an appointment and get medication he needed and was able to get back to his work and being productive.”

Former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove — who served with Dearing in the senate, as lieutenant governor and then as governor — told of how, during his time as governor, he had to tell Dearing to stop scheduling meetings with him for former Natchez Mayor Butch Brown.

“I asked (Dearing), ‘Do you want me to add up the running total of dollars that is going to Natchez? You need to select one more project and tell Butch Brown the door is not open anymore,’” Musgrove said.

“Bob Dearing cares about his hometown. He wanted to make sure when we were doing something we were doing something for Natchez-Adams County.”

But more than caring about his hometown, Dearing was honorable, Musgrove said.

“There is probably not another more decent, more humble, more caring person than Bob Dearing, and I feel like I was a better senator for having served with him, a better lieutenant governor and a better governor for being there with him.”

At the end of the reception, Dearing thanked all of his friends for the kind words.

“This has been an evening I will always cherish in my heart,” he said.

“It has been an honor serving you these last 32 years.”