Dennis McCoy Elliott

Everything and everyone you love, care, and worry about is a vapor—here for a few moments, and then gone. This sobering thought can be depressing, or conversely, freeing. We can either go the way of many around us and ignore that fact, medicating and numbing ourselves in avoidance of the truth of our humanity, but there is another way—we can embrace it, recognizing our humble place in the universe and living with an acute awareness of human arrogance and empire. And perhaps, as a result, we can learn to appreciate and fully experience the moments that we have as the gifts that they are—vapor. Jesus taught about the Vapor like this— “Come to me, all you who are weary, and I will give you rest. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Dennis McCoy Elliott was welcomed into eternal rest on June 30, 2026, marking the end of a life well lived, but the light, legacy, and testimony he left behind so clearly demonstrates that he found the rest and peace Jesus describes long before his last breath. Carpe Diem was not simply a platitude for Dennis, but a way of life seizing each and every day for what it had to offer and treating it as an unpromised gift. Whether the day in question entailed spending time with his family and friends, listening to music or fixing anything that was broken including countless makes and models of both cars and musical instruments, Dennis was fully present. Grief for the loss of his physical presence commingles with both the joy of knowing his body is now fully restored and immense gratitude for the privilege of having almost 86 years to love and be loved by him.

Dennis was born in Topeka, Kansas on July 6, 1940, to Dorsey and Eunice Elliott of Sublette, Kansas. After spending his childhood on the family farm, he boarded a train to attend Stanford University (notably, sight unseen), where he challenged himself both intellectually and physically—playing on the football team, excelling in the classroom, and picking up new instruments in the marching band. After graduating from Stanford in 1962, he received his Master’s Degree in Engineering Administration and entered the Navy in the fall of 1963. As a commissioned officer in the Navy Civil Engineering Corps, Dennis served as the Assistant Resident Officer, supervising construction projects at the Miramar Naval Air Station in North San Diego County.

While in San Diego, Dennis found his ambition leading him to Massachusetts, where he earned a Master’s Degree in Transportation Systems from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After moving to Arlington, Texas and managing the first automated “people mover” at Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Airport, Dennis then founded and grew his own consulting company, which later grew to be known as Lea+Elliott, Inc. and is now internationally recognized for its specialty in engineering and managing automated transit systems at airports. During his 35+ years at Lea+Elliott, Dennis’s entrepreneurial spirit and work ethic (along with that of so many of his valued colleagues) did—and continues to—impact millions of travelers who rely on automated airport systems at airports from Denver to Dubai.

While Dennis had plenty of accomplishments in which to boast, both personally and professionally, his presence was never one of arrogance, but of humble confidence and contentment. He found immense joy in sharing his gifts, both tangible and intangible, with others— most notably, his friends and family. While running (or perhaps, biking) the race called life, Dennis realized he had found his ultimate pace setter in 1988 and married the love of his life, Julie, who Dennis himself described as his emotional rudder, travelling companion, inspiration, and above all, best friend. The two were not just soul mates, but sole mates walking through everything life had to offer, both good and bad, side by side, as a team. Known affectionately as “Juju and Grandpa” by their three grandchildren, the two supported one another in their various passions and shared a zest for life, seizing the day regardless of what it had in store.

The family farm in Sublette would always hold a precious place in Dennis’s heart, and upon his father’s retirement in 1990, he became the “farm manager,” journeying to Kansas every month to meet with tenant farmers and manage operations ranging from the grain elevators to the cattle feedlots. Upon his retirement from Lea+Elliott, Dennis continued to approach his days in pursuit of a diverse array of hobbies that kept him active—cars, music, antique furniture, musical instruments, and boats, to name a few—and even in the midst of battling Parkinson’s disease, felt it necessary to clarify that “I’m not much on passive hobbies.” Whether it was teaching his 15-year-old granddaughter to drive stick shift in a vintage Porsche (what could go wrong?), requiring a musical performance by the “family band” at Christmas, building a harpsichord from a kit starting with thousands of pieces, restoring a 1937 Mason & Hamlin grand piano, waterskiing on two artificial knees, or towing (more so, whipping) a tube full of his children and grandchildren around the lake at Possum Kingdom, Dennis was living and living well. And while Parkinson’s eventually took his ability to run, and then walk, he never once gave up on the race we call life and most certainly was welcomed into the arms of his mother, father, and others who went before him with the resounding words of “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” While we mourn the loss of his physical presence, we rejoice in the knowledge that his body and mind are now completely restored. We, along with so many others who knew and loved him, are immensely grateful that God saw it fit to align each of our respective “races” of life with that of Dennis— whether as a father, husband, grandpa, or friend— God knows that we are all better for it.

Dennis is survived by his wife of almost 40 years, Julie Elliott; his son, Craig Elliott, and wife Shaye; daughter, Kristin (Elliott) Kirkland, and husband Kelly; stepson Austin Henderson, and wife, Hali; and three grandchildren: Carly Kirkland; Coby Kirkland and wife, Lindsey; and Duke Henderson. He is also survived by his sister, Diane Elliott Blunt and husband Bill Blunt, nephew Joshua Blunt and wife Jamie, niece Elizabeth Blunt, and Kathleen Page Clark with whom they shared their two children Craig and Kristin. Dennis was preceded in death by his parents, Dorsey and Eunice Elliott, and stepmom Marjorie Elliott.

A celebration of life will be held Saturday August 22 at 1:00pm at Fellowship of the Parks Church, 1901 Hall-Johnson Road, Grapevine, Texas. 76051.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in memory of Dennis Elliott to The Parkinson’s Foundation (https://www.parkinson.org), James L. West Center for Dementia Care in Fort Worth Texas (https://www.jameslwest.org/about/charitable-giving/) or other favorite charity.

Aside from a donation, Dennis would find the most honor in knowing that each of us who knew and loved him lived each day with a sense of urgency to seize the 24 hours we are in—Carpe Diem— and a knowledge that life here on Earth is a gift— vapor. You only get it for as long as you get it, and no matter how painful and difficult it may be, at times, it is nonetheless beautiful and worthy of our embrace and presence. May we dance in the sunshine, yes, but also in the rain—with a sense of peace and knowing that Dennis is smiling down on us all, saying, as he always has: “This too shall pass.”