Dennis moved to Rock Island late in the summer of 1958 from the East Moline-Silvis border with his mother and brother, Bruce, RIHS 1964. He'd attended George O. Barr and McKinley schools in East Moline. When he started eighth grade at Central Jr. High School, Dennis didn't know a soul. He was quiet and shy, but did make friends with Chuck Stout. He didn't speak to girls unless they spoke first, and he says, "I wasn’t popular. Probably no one would have known I existed if it weren't for being involved in two fights in 'Smoke Alley' the first month of school." The two years at Central were uneventful, but he did become acquainted with other classmates. At Rocky, he was still quiet but made friends. John Sweeney, Bill Sutton, John Harlan, and Mike Green were a few. Dennis was only a B-, C+ student, and his favorite teachers were Miss Leary, Ben Clark, and P.J. Martin. Miss Buren was his homeroom teacher and, although quite slim, he says, "She used to occupy my thoughts." Dennis walked to and from school every day, three miles each way. In his junior year, he joined the swim team, swimming against guys like Steve Urie, Bill McCombs, Gary Schuster, and Mike Peterson, all long-time Blue Marlin swimmers. Dennis wasn't fast, but he had stamina and swam the 400 freestyle with Mike Peterson. He never beat Mike. "Mike was great!" Dennis never had a car or a high school girlfriend. After graduation, being rather poor and with a C+ average, he began working at International Harvester's Farmall Works at the age of 18 and worked there until he was drafted into the Army in 1965. In 1964, at a Y-Canteen, he met his wife, Shari Fritz (RIHS '65). Dennis didn't want to go to Vietnam but would have gone. He was second best in his company with the M14 rifle, which he thought jinxed him. He had, however, a top secret clearance that he was unaware of, so the Army sent him to Korea to guard the nuclear weapons base. After 13 months there, he was reassigned for five months to the Sandia base in New Mexico. After his honorable discharge from the Army, he returned to Farmall, and he and Shari were married in November 1967. He worked at Farmall until the fall of 1970 when he joined the Rock Island Police Department. At that time, Dennis joined a number of other RIHS '62 grads at the RIPD: George Pickett, George Atkinson, Jack Gates, Jim Hartman, Bill Collins, Bob Schroeder, Tom Williams, Mac Kerch, Art Scott, Jim Ferguson, and Don Withrow. He worked uniform at the RIPD for 14 years and detective for 18 years before retiring. Dennis says, "What a job! All you see is the worst in life." He adds that he doesn't miss the job but does miss the people he worked with. Shari and Dennis have three sons, Mike, Patrick, and John. Mike graduated from Western Illinois University and is a guard at the East Moline Correctional Center. He and his wife, Krista, have two children, Hannah, 11, and Jon, 9. Patrick is also a Western Illinois grad and teaches special ed in Humble, Texas. Patrick is a scrapper. He finished second in the Dallas Toughman contest with absolutely no training. He moved to Houston where they had his weight class and won the Houston Toughman championship, again with no training. Currently, he fights MMA and has had four wins and one loss. He is just about best friends with George Foreman. He and George spar and hang around. Pat confides in George and goes to him for advice as George is the preacher at the church Patrick attends. Dennis's youngest son, John, attended Black Hawk College and Western Illinois University. He works in the parts department at Quad Cities Kenworth where he’s been for 12 years. John is Dennis's duck hunting buddy, and they try to do a little goose hunting once in awhile. Dennis says that his grandson, Jon, is a good student and "makes friends more easily than any kid his age." He is a leader on his Little League team.
Dennis and Shari have been Rocky season ticket holders and Booster Club members for more than 44 years. Dennis has attended all of his class reunions except the five-year because he was in the Army that year. He shares that he has no regrets in life and has lived a mostly trouble-free life. He says he's not real religious but believes in God. He's 67 years old and has outlived his parents, who passed away in their mid-fifties, so he thinks he's doing ok. Although he wasn't rich or popular in high school, Dennis looks back on those days as three of the best years of his life. He's had young people razz him about his age, but he tells them they didn't live at the best time in America - the ‘50s and ‘60s. We had Elvis, Dion, the Shirelles, the Orlons, Mary Wells, root beer stands, fast cars, the best music ever, roller skating rinks, dances you could attend trouble-free, iconic TV and movie actors and movies. Could things have been any better? Not much. A few songs that remind Dennis of his high school years are Locomotion by Little Eva, Come Softly to Me by the Fleetwoods, and I Love How You Love Me by the Paris Sisters. He wonders if any of his classmates remember what their very favorite songs were.
Dennis also shares his words of wisdom: "When you’re young, you think you have forever. But when you get older, you know you don't. Try to enjoy your time left - most worries are insignificant anyway. Also, drink little; smoke never." Dennis likes the idea of traveling, but he and Shari will continue to reside in the Quad Cities where they enjoy life's best with two (local) sons, grandchildren, and other extended family.
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Dennis
and Shari enjoy watching Hannah and Jon in competitive sports as they did their
own three sons. Mike played football at Rocky and graduated in 1987.
Pat played football and baseball - started in both - and graduated in 1993.
John played baseball and was the "best two-miler" on the cross country team for
two years. As a freshman, he ran so well that he caused both Moline and
Alleman to not make the sectionals. He won the Galesburg Invitational,
which had 450 runners. John graduated in 1995.
His
most memorable event was going to and swimming at sectionals in Rockford in his
junior year. He also liked being around his classmates, and trying to
"keep up." He looked forward to sporting events on the weekends and
supplying gum to the girls in his homeroom.
