Denning, Joe William
(born: 1945)Joe W. Denning was born in Bowling Green, KY, son of Marion E. and Evelyn Huskey Denning. He is a 1970 graduate of the Kentucky State Police Academy and attended Western Kentucky University. In 1975, Denning, a former state trooper, became the first African American to serve on the Bowling Green School Board. In 1991, he was elected a city commissioner. Denning was pro-tem mayor of Bowling Green, KY in 2011, and later replaced Mayor Elaine Walker after her resignation to become the Kentucky Secretary of State. Denning was elected mayor of Bowling Green in 2012. He is the first African American Mayor for the city. For more see "17 blacks are local school board members," in 1978 Kentucky Directory of Black Elected Officials, Fifth Report, by the Commission on Human Rights, p. 24; and Who's Who Among African Americans, 1985-2006.
