L. Stanton Dotson, age 79, of Charleston, succumbed to ALS at his home on August 8, 2017. Stanton was born in New Orleans, LA on April 27, 1938, the son of Charles W. and Adele Jahncke Dotson. He is survived by his wife, Nancy K. Dotson, children, and grandchildren.

Stanton graduated from the University of Illinois Champaign in May 1960 with a BA in Agricultural Law. While at the U of I, he was associated with the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, received two major awards for public service as a student, the MA-WAN-DA and SACHEM. He was a senior football manager for the Fighting Illini Football Team. He was a member of the Army ROTC. After graduation he served his active duty time as part of the ROTC Program and was stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso, TX. He continued service as a reservist reaching the rank of Captain. In 1961 he enrolled at Chicago Kent College of Law, graduating in 1964 and passing the bar exam in November 1964. He was hired as assistant state’s attorney by Ralph Glenn in Coles County Illinois in December 1964. In 1968 he was elected the state’s atorney and served until 1972 when he entered into private practice on Wabash Avenue in Mattoon where he remained as a sole practitioner until June 2014. He received recognition from the Illinois State Bar Association for fifty years in the practice of law in November 2014. His ALS diagnosis in January 2015 curtailed his activities, taking official retirement in January 2017.

He was a member of many organizations: Illinois State Bar Association, Cole-Cumberland Bar Association, Masonic Lodge, Kiwanis Club, Moose, American Legion, Elks, Coles County Historical Society to name a few and served in leadership roles in many of these.