As Dennis Rices mother I have many memories and stories to share about his life. I will share briefly a few highlights. He was a very quiet baby and always smiling. People always commented on his smile. As he continued to grow he was still very quiet. Once he started school they also became aware of his lack of social skills and put him into special education classes. He continued in these classes through high school. Because of his “disability” he was offered an opportunity through the state of Wisconsin to attend a college for commercial art. When he received the paperwork he needed to sign he threw it away.  I guess he was just happy to be done with school so didn’t take advantage of the opportunity. Not long after that he moved away from home and in time became somewhat estranged from the family.

I remember Dennis coming back home to visit after moving out. Dennis was always a pretty slim guy, but when he returned I was surprised to see he had gained a good amount of weight. Found out why, when he opened his car door and mounds of wrappers of empty packages of Grandma’s cookies came flooding out the car. 

I road the bus to school, I was 6 at the time. We lived out in the middle of a pine forest, where my parents thought it would be a good idea to get chickens and a rooster. Well the rooster hated me, and would hide, so when I least expected it he would come attack with his ninja like kicks.  Anyways, the bus stopped at the end of our long driveway and the rooster would always be lurking for me in the woods. Because of this Dennis would wait at the end of the driveway for me everyday so he could protect me getting home from school. Well one day I got off the bus and to my dismay Dennis wasn’t there. I immediately started panicking, crying, trying to find a safe course to the house. Just as I got to the walk way to get to the door of our house, there he was the rooster. I screamed!! And then I heard Dennis’s voice saying it was okay. You see our dog was also protecting me and took care of the rooster, he was no longer a threat to me. Dennis never let me down, even that one time when I almost thought he did, he didn’t. He was more than just a big brother to me. He was my safety net, my protector.