Dennis Boggs has never met a stranger.
For 11 years now, the former community theater actor has been stopped on the street, in restaurants, and on family outings by people who want to ask him questions or take pictures with him. These conversations all start the same way: “Has anyone ever told you that you look exactly like Abraham Lincoln?”
It’s a good thing he resembles America’s 16th president, because Boggs makes a living traveling across the country presenting Lincoln’s story.
Boggs was in Grand Junction this weekend speaking at Chautauqua, an adult education program with a long tradition brought to the Grand Valley by the Museum of Western Colorado. Last Wednesday morning, Mesa State students were surprised to find “Honest Abe” speaking in the Academic Quad. This is Boggs’ second Chautauqua. His typical audience is the public school crowd, from preschoolers to college students. He speaks at churches and civic groups, and was heavily featured in the 2008 documentary “Being Lincoln: Men in Hats.”
Boggs’ affinity for double breasted coats and stovepipe hats began when a theater director in his native Tennessee mentioned the similarities between Lincoln and Boggs. Boggs stands at 6 feet and 4 inches — Lincoln’s height. He dyes his hair and beard Lincoln’s shade of brown, and during performances, he wears gray contacts to match Lincoln’s eye color. Often, physical similarities hardly matter to a Lincoln presenter, Boggs said.
“If you’re going to put this coat on and you’re going to present this man’s story, it comes with a certain responsibility.”
The men who present Lincoln live by the president’s high moral standards, standards they’ve gleaned from reading thousands of books about Lincoln and his own letters.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to portray someone who left a treasure trove of written material,” Boggs said. The preparation that goes into presenting a historical character is immense. Boggs has been reading about Lincoln and his contemporaries for 15 years. Boggs brought three books about the former president along on this trip.
Boggs is a member of the Association of Lincoln Presenters (ALP), a group of 150 men and women who portray Lincoln and his wife, Mary, and who attend an annual convention. Members of the ALP prefer to be called presenters, because their mission is to act as “living historians”. They are not actors, improvising as historic characters. Boggs calls himself a “stickler for accuracy”. He always provides audiences the opportunity to ask questions, but he won’t answer if he doesn’t have the facts. The anecdotes he tells as Lincoln are Lincoln’s own, although Boggs tells them in a way that seamlessly weaves them into his narrative.
“Someone once said to Lincoln, ‘I heard you’re a storyteller’. And Lincoln said, ‘No. I’m in the business of retail.’ And that’s how I present,” Boggs said.
Though he tells anecdotes in his own manner, he navigates the potential pitfalls of historical presentations with ease. People tend to be extremely passionate about some famous figures, well-known characters like Lincoln in particular. One audience member at Mesa State complimented Boggs after the show on portraying the pitch of Lincoln’s voice correctly.
It’s not hard for him to step into the role and get it right. He doesn’t need the hat or his contacts to become Lincoln anymore. He attributes part of this to his ability to draw several similarities between his life and Lincoln’s. They each had four children. Boggs’ wife is named Molly, which is the nick name Lincoln called his wife Mary. Boggs grew up in Lincoln County, attended Lincoln Elementary, and saw movies in the Lincoln Theater as a child.
“If you can find something that connects you to him, you’ll begin to relate,” Boggs said. “Lincoln and I — I just connected to him on an emotional level that really surprised me.”
Abraham Lincoln has become something more than an admirable figure in American history to Dennis Boggs. He’s patterned himself after the president, physically and morally. Lincoln is a way of life, and Boggs won’t give him up any time soon. However he does concede one thing.
“If I keep eating these donuts, I’m going to have to start presenting someone else.”