Father Dennis was an awesome Marine and Chaplain. He married my wife and me on Jan 17, 1998. In his homily, he spoke of the marathon that we were to embark on together, an even greater challenge than the USMC Marathon that we had just run together in Oct, 1998. I thought of him often, and in fact called his parrish and got his cell phone number about three weeks ago, and hadn’t yet called when I saw the news.
Father Dennis was a special person to me, and to everyone I knew who ever met him.
I hope that he knew how many people cared so much for him as he ran his own marathon, one that led him to Vietnam, where he was one of six Marines in his company of over 100 to leave Hue City alive, to the priesthood, and to serve again with Marines in Iraq in 2007, and back to being a parrish priest.
Semper Fi, Father.