Former state Sen. Dave Nething, R-Jamestown, pictured in 2011, died Dec. 2, 2024, at age 91. (Photo provided by the North Dakota Legislative Assembly via the North Dakota Monitor)
(Michael Achterling – North Dakota Monitor) -The North Dakota Senate this week honored a former Jamestown lawmaker who at one time was the longest serving Republican state legislator in the country.
Former state Sen. Dave Nething, 91, died Monday. He represented the Jamestown area for 46 years in the state Senate from 1967 to 2012. He served as North Dakota’s Senate majority leader from 1974 to 1986 and was a past president of the National Conference of State Legislatures.
“Sen. Nething set a very high bar in the North Dakota Senate,” Sen. Cole Conley, R-Jamestown, said Wednesday during the legislative organizational session. “And he will be missed by all that knew him.”
At the time of Nething’s retirement, he held the distinction of being the longest serving Republican state lawmaker in the U.S., Conley said.
Nething was proud of the work he did as a lawyer, lawmaker and through various community organizations, such as the North Dakota Elks Association and its national organization, the Grand Lodge, said Scot Nething, Dave’s son. He also wanted to share his life with his grandchildren.
“He wrote four books about his history, not with the intent of publishing … but leaving the story for his grandkids,” Scot Nething said.
Nething said one thing he took away from his father’s life was a deep commitment to anything he chose to focus on.
“When he took on a project, he took on a project and worked it hard,” he said. “And he was also really open to listen, I think. He didn’t make up his mind right now. He would listen to people and wanted to help.”
Jamestown Mayor Dwaine Heinrich credited Nething for spearheading a fundraising effort to prevent the Elks Camp Grassick, a summer camp for children and adults with disabilities, from closing in the 1980s.
“In my honest opinion, it saved the camp from closure,” he said.
Nething, a Republican, represented a predominantly Democratic-NPL district for a majority of his legislative career.
“He did a remarkable job of going to Bismarck and fighting for Jamestown,” Heinrich said. “He was reelected then, not because necessarily that he was a Republican, but because people respected him and respected the job that he did in Bismarck.”
A memorial service for Nething will be held at 10:30 a.m. Dec. 11 at United Presbyterian Church in Jamestown.
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