Lewis E Denny

February 10, 1924-December 26, 2016

Born February 10, 1924 in New Paris, Ohio, Lewis was the son of Chalmer Emrick and Morna Rae Newbern Denny. He was the youngest of three sons. His brothers Chalmer N. and Robert O. Denny predeceased him. Lewis grew up in Kokomo, Indiana and graduated from Kokomo High School in 1942.

After serving in the Army during World War II, Lewis returned to Indiana and graduated from Indiana University’s School of Business in 1949. That same year, he married Marilyn Lou Eby of Kokomo. Lewis worked for the Stellite Division of Union Carbide in Kokomo from 1951 until 1969, when he, Marilyn, and his sons Michael and David moved to Arizona, where Lewis began work as Personnel Director for the First National Bank of Arizona in Phoenix. After a stint in California with the bank, Lewis returned to Arizona in 1981 to manage a branch of First Interstate Bank in Green Valley, Arizona. “It was always a pleasure to come to work,” according to a former colleague, “and see his smiling face and easy demeanor.” He retired in 1989 and shifted his focus to volunteer work in Green Valley.

Lewis helped form Green Valley’s Senior Olympics in 1985 the Friends of Madera Canyon in 1987. An active member of Main Street Christian Church in Kokomo, he helped develop the Stephen Ministry program at Valley Presbyterian Church in Green Valley. In 2001, Lewis received the Santa Cruz Valley Interfaith Council’s Paragon Award.

After retiring, he and Marilyn enjoyed hiking trips to Switzerland and cruises in the Pacific and Caribbean. Marilyn died in 2013 after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s Disease.

On Lewis’ 90th birthday, old friend Ray Smith described him as “a man of principle, a man of honor, a citizen who is well aware of the world around him buttressed with a fine tuned sense of humor. He is a man who gives much of himself but requires little in return …”

Lewis spent his last four years at Prestige Assisted Living in Green Valley, where he continued to win friends with his other-centered kindness, light heart and affectionate spirit.

When Valley Presbyterian Church was raising funds for new construction, he encouraged the congregation in words that describe his own life: “It’s been said that the masses of people worry themselves into the grave but from time to time along comes some unselfish person who forgets himself into eternity.” After a two-week battle with respiratory illness, Lewis forgot himself into eternity while under hospice care at Prestige on the evening of December 26, 2016.

Lewis is survived by Michael L. Denny of Philadelphia, and Rev. David M. Denny of Crestone, Colorado. Michael is a used textbook broker and David is co-founder of the non-profit Desert Foundation and an outreach priest for Cross Catholic Outreach. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Friends of Madera Canyon.