Donald Merle Dennis, Jr. passed away on Thursday, Mar. 23, 2017, at his home in Milford, Delaware. He was the son of the late Donald Merle Dennis, Sr. and Reba Louise Stubbs.
Donnie graduated from Seaford High School and then enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corp. He proudly served in Viet Nam in 1968 and 1969. After being honorably discharged from the Marine Corp he became a carpenter. He was a member of the Milford VFW.
Donnie is survived by his son, Craig Lewis; and his grandson, Ian Lewis, both of Florida; a brother, Ronald N. Elliott, of Milford; a sister, Carol A. Dennis Willey and her husband, Lester Willey, of Greenwood; nephew Kenny Elliott of Virginia, and nieces Sherri Elliott Anthony, Lisa Willey Jefferson and Laura Willey, all of Delaware.
Memorial service and interment with military honors will be held at the Delaware Veteran Memorial Cemetery in Millsboro.
I'm sure everyone knew that Uncle Donnie was a proud Marine and Vietnam veteran.
He thought of his fellow service members as his brothers, especially those he served with in Vietnam.
He carried his experiences in Vietnam with him for the rest of his life and brought back many stories.
Some of his stories were funny, many were tragic and sad, but they were always fascinating, heartfelt and readily shared with anyone who was interested.
It seemed like he looked upon his experiences in Vietnam as an integral part of himself that taught him many life lessons he might never have learned otherwise.
But there was a softer side to our Marine. He was the fun, cool uncle, not like our parents. (SQUARE!) As a bachelor he worked a lot, in many places far from home. He'd tell us about his adventures in these far away, exotic places like West Virginia, Atlantic City and the magical three mile island.
No matter how much he worked he always made time for me, my sister Lisa and my favorite cousins Kenny and Sherri.
We played softball, board games and cards, He'd take us fishing, to the beach, out to eat and one of my favorite things…rides on the Cape-May Lewes Ferry, even though we'd just turn around and come right back. We thought we were world travelers!
Every birthday he would pick us up and take us shopping for ANYthing we wanted (often to our parent's dismay!).
And if we were lucky he would even let us to clean his car and we'd take all the soda bottles we collected from it, get the deposit back and buy candy or subs.
Later in life the traditions that the four of us shared with him were passed down to include our children and our children's children, Uncle Donnie's great nieces and nephews and great great nieces and nephews.
He loved family. You could always count on him to be at every family gathering, telling stories, sharing memories and making us laugh.
I wanted to share a couple of my favorite Uncle Donnie stories One I just learned of recently from my sister.
Uncle Donnie was in Vietnam and had been sent from the front to an Air Force Base in the rear for some R&R.
Apparently he and his buddies were so bored that for entertainment they would shoot at the guard in the tower. Not anywhere close to him so as to hit him, but just enough to scare the guard and see him react.
He said the guard would drop down and duck for cover while they "entertained themselves" at his expense.
Uncle Donnie and his buddies (probably barely out of high school) thought this was HILARIOUS.
Several years ago my brother in law was talking to another vet about his experiences in Vietnam.
The guy told my BIL that he never saw combat because he was in the rear and the only exciting thing that happened to him was when a group of Marines came in for R & R and they kept shooting at the side of his tower.
One of my favorite stories is about how Uncle Donnie would "help" my grandmother Dennis garden. She LOVED to garden… well she loved the IDEA of gardening and having pretty flowers…flowers that Uncle Donnie had no use for. When it came to the manual labor like planting and weeding….EH not so much.
So when grandmother would make him plant flowers he said he would take some of the bulbs and plant them upside down so they wouldn't grow. He said she couldn't figure out for the life of her why all her flowers wouldn't grow!
Uncle Donnie brought so many happy times and good memories to our family. He will be greatly missed by all of us as he was loved so much.
Donald Merle Dennis, Jr. passed away on Thursday, Mar. 23, 2017, at his home in Milford, Delaware. He was the son of the late Donald Merle Dennis, Sr. and Reba Louise Stubbs.
Donnie graduated from Seaford High School and then enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corp. He proudly served in Viet Nam in 1968 and 1969. After being honorably discharged from the Marine Corp he became a carpenter. He was a member of the Milford VFW.
Donnie is survived by his son, Craig Lewis; and his grandson, Ian Lewis, both of Florida; a brother, Ronald N. Elliott, of Milford; a sister, Carol A. Dennis Willey and her husband, Lester Willey, of Greenwood; nephew Kenny Elliott of Virginia, and nieces Sherri Elliott Anthony, Lisa Willey Jefferson and Laura Willey, all of Delaware.
Memorial service and interment with military honors will be held at the Delaware Veteran Memorial Cemetery in Millsboro.
I'm sure everyone knew that Uncle Donnie was a proud Marine and Vietnam veteran.
He thought of his fellow service members as his brothers, especially those he served with in Vietnam.
He carried his experiences in Vietnam with him for the rest of his life and brought back many stories.
Some of his stories were funny, many were tragic and sad, but they were always fascinating, heartfelt and readily shared with anyone who was interested.
It seemed like he looked upon his experiences in Vietnam as an integral part of himself that taught him many life lessons he might never have learned otherwise.
But there was a softer side to our Marine. He was the fun, cool uncle, not like our parents. (SQUARE!) As a bachelor he worked a lot, in many places far from home. He'd tell us about his adventures in these far away, exotic places like West Virginia, Atlantic City and the magical three mile island.
No matter how much he worked he always made time for me, my sister Lisa and my favorite cousins Kenny and Sherri.
We played softball, board games and cards, He'd take us fishing, to the beach, out to eat and one of my favorite things…rides on the Cape-May Lewes Ferry, even though we'd just turn around and come right back. We thought we were world travelers!
Every birthday he would pick us up and take us shopping for ANYthing we wanted (often to our parent's dismay!).
And if we were lucky he would even let us to clean his car and we'd take all the soda bottles we collected from it, get the deposit back and buy candy or subs.
Later in life the traditions that the four of us shared with him were passed down to include our children and our children's children, Uncle Donnie's great nieces and nephews and great great nieces and nephews.
He loved family. You could always count on him to be at every family gathering, telling stories, sharing memories and making us laugh.
I wanted to share a couple of my favorite Uncle Donnie stories One I just learned of recently from my sister.
Uncle Donnie was in Vietnam and had been sent from the front to an Air Force Base in the rear for some R&R.
Apparently he and his buddies were so bored that for entertainment they would shoot at the guard in the tower. Not anywhere close to him so as to hit him, but just enough to scare the guard and see him react.
He said the guard would drop down and duck for cover while they "entertained themselves" at his expense.
Uncle Donnie and his buddies (probably barely out of high school) thought this was HILARIOUS.
Several years ago my brother in law was talking to another vet about his experiences in Vietnam.
The guy told my BIL that he never saw combat because he was in the rear and the only exciting thing that happened to him was when a group of Marines came in for R & R and they kept shooting at the side of his tower.
One of my favorite stories is about how Uncle Donnie would "help" my grandmother Dennis garden. She LOVED to garden… well she loved the IDEA of gardening and having pretty flowers…flowers that Uncle Donnie had no use for. When it came to the manual labor like planting and weeding….EH not so much.
So when grandmother would make him plant flowers he said he would take some of the bulbs and plant them upside down so they wouldn't grow. He said she couldn't figure out for the life of her why all her flowers wouldn't grow!
Uncle Donnie brought so many happy times and good memories to our family. He will be greatly missed by all of us as he was loved so much.
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