Dennis was a brilliant classmate and a gifted person. After Mark Smith he went on to Georgia Tech where he completed college and then all the work for a double Ph.D. in Physics and Electrical Engineering. He had a dream that he could use technology to help make the world a better place.
He was killed by a hit-and-run driver in Atlanta in the late 70's as he was driving his scooter back from teaching a class at Tech. We will never know what a better place the world would have been had Dennis lived. He had no children but he left a very loving wife, Diane, who also attended Lassiter and then Tech.
After Dennis' death the good souls at GA Tech let Diane walk in the graduation ceremony Dennis was supposed to have walked in - she wore his robes and was awarded his Ph.D. posthumously.
-Posted by Melton Strozier, Class of 1970
Dennis was a great person with a brilliant mind. In addition to being as tall as me all through J. Ellsworth Hall and high school, we both had red hair.
Dennis, as wonderful as he was, was also a world class moocher. If I had an extra pencil, Dennis wanted to borrow it. Ditto for a piece of paper. Ditto for an eraser. One time (probably 9th grade) Jimmy Coleman, Ken Pyles, and I got the idea of learning Dennis a lesson about not mooching so much. We got a large bag of M&M's, poured an entire bag of Ex-Lax in, mixed it up, and began passing it around to those of us who were in on the prank during a bus ride to a football game. We made sure to just eat the M&M's. Sure enough, Dennis wanted to mooch. We decided to let Dennis have the whole bag, to which he promptly polished off. We did it for a big laugh but later found out that Dennis got dehydrated and had to go to the hospital. BOY was his mother mad! :-)
-Posted by Jim O'Dillon, Class of 1970
Thanks, Melton, for posting this information about Dennis. I never knew these amazing facts about his life! I had no idea he was working on his PhD. What a loss for us all!
-Posted by Miki Fluker, Class of 1970
Miki Fluker (1970)
He was killed by a hit-and-run driver in Atlanta in the late 70's as he was driving his scooter back from teaching a class at Tech. We will never know what a better place the world would have been had Dennis lived. He had no children but he left a very loving wife, Diane, who also attended Lassiter and then Tech.
After Dennis' death the good souls at GA Tech let Diane walk in the graduation ceremony Dennis was supposed to have walked in - she wore his robes and was awarded his Ph.D. posthumously.
-Posted by Melton Strozier, Class of 1970
Miki Fluker (1970)
Dennis was a great person with a brilliant mind. In addition to being as tall as me all through J. Ellsworth Hall and high school, we both had red hair.
Dennis, as wonderful as he was, was also a world class moocher. If I had an extra pencil, Dennis wanted to borrow it. Ditto for a piece of paper. Ditto for an eraser. One time (probably 9th grade) Jimmy Coleman, Ken Pyles, and I got the idea of learning Dennis a lesson about not mooching so much. We got a large bag of M&M's, poured an entire bag of Ex-Lax in, mixed it up, and began passing it around to those of us who were in on the prank during a bus ride to a football game. We made sure to just eat the M&M's. Sure enough, Dennis wanted to mooch. We decided to let Dennis have the whole bag, to which he promptly polished off. We did it for a big laugh but later found out that Dennis got dehydrated and had to go to the hospital. BOY was his mother mad! :-)
-Posted by Jim O'Dillon, Class of 1970
Miki Fluker (1970)
-Posted by Miki Fluker, Class of 1970