ennis was born in Muscatine, Iowa and moved to Phoenix, Arizona as a young child in September 1955. He graduated from Maie Barlette Heard Elementary in 1962 and from West Phoenix High School in 1966. Dennis entered the United States Navy and while stationed in San Diego, Dennis called some guest spots with a local caller, Dale Durbin. Dennis also served his country over 2½ years in Vietnam (1966-69).

     Dennis has been a square dancer since 1959, but began apprenticing to be a caller in 1958. He called his first dance in July of 1958 at a summer potluck for a local club called, Belles & Beaux. That's all it took for Dennis to get the "bug" to be a caller. Through a lot of encouragement from his parents (who also danced) and many friends, Dennis began his calling career. Dennis started instructing square dancing in the middle 1970’s, and has graduated hundreds of dancers, and many of them are still dancing today. Dennis is well known for his great yodeling talent and receives many requests at dances. Dennis has been calling so long that he used to use 78 records to call by, and many of his 78 records have never felt a needle of a record player, and are in the original record sleeves.

     In 1981 Dennis joined Callerlab and has been a continuing member since, and is an Accredited Caller. Dennis has attended many Callerlab Conventions throughout the United States to further his education in calling. Dennis is also on the Callerlab Plus Committee. Dennis is also a member of the Southern Arizona Callers & Cuers Association. Dennis also has developed, maintains and hosts the site.

Dennis calls Mainstream thru Plus, and has called for and/or instructed for the Shepherd Swingers, B&B’s Phoenix West, Saguaro Twirlers, Maryvale Twirlers, Squaws & Braves, Westerners, Sun Set Dancers, Sun Village Squares, as well as numerous clubs around the state, such as Bustle & Boots, Cottonwood Roadrunners, Sun Dancers, Ruffle’s ‘n’ Redneck’s, Rim Rompers, Mile-Hi Squares, and many others. Although Dennis has called many festivals in Arizona he has also has been part of the weekend calling program for the Palomar Jamboree By The Sea for 16 years.

     Dennis has also called in the following states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, New Mexico, Nevada, Tennessee, and Texas. Dennis also was granted a "Special Certificate" to teach square dancing from the Arizona Community Colleges in the State of Arizona in 1988, and has also continuing his education on calling by attending Caller's Clinic's by Jerry Junck, Daryl Clendenin the late, Bill Peters and many Callerlab Conventions. Dennis was honored and presented a 50th year calling award at the Callerlab Convention Banquet in Colorado Springs, Colorado on Tuesday, April 3, 2007. Dennis is the youngest caller to date to have received this award.

     Dennis also attended Phoenix College and Glendale Community College where he majored in Mass Communications, and was studying and interning as a radio personality on KMCR-FM (1975-79).

     Dennis met his wife, Terese Moriak in 1989 when she was his "beginner class coordinator" for the Liberty West Square Dancers. They married April 21, 1990 at the Community Church of Joy. A square dance wedding, of course, with about 500 in attendance. Around 17 squares enjoyed the dancing to local callers and cuers who gave their time for this special day. Dennis and Terese have two children. Daughter Missie, who married Troy Hueper on September 28, 2002 in River Falls, WI., and now resides in Minnesota. Troy & Missie are both gainfully employed. Troy working for a machine shop in the Minnesota area where they live and Missie works for a local chiropractic office. Not unusual, since her mom is a chiropractor in Sun City West, AZ. We are proud of them and are in constant contact and we call each other regularly.
During the summer months for the past two years (2007, 2008), Dennis has driven up to Minnesota to spend 5-6 weeks helping them with painting and other construction projects on their new house. Of course Dennis cooked for them and did a lot of babysitting the girls. Karlie and Leah love their "Papa". Also during the past two summers, Dennis called square dances in Minnesota and surrounding states to help him offset the fuel cost. Missie also sends us updated pictures of our precious grandchildren each week or two. Missie & Troy have two daughters Karlie (web site) & Leah (web site). Son, Jesse who is single, graduated at the University of Wisconsin at River Falls in June 2001 with a BS degree. He then moved to South Dakota long enough to finish his Masters.
Jesse is gainfully employed by a company as an engineer and resides in Wisconsin. Jesse also has had the opportunity to travel with his job sending him to to Finland and other European countries on various occasions. I'm sure he has found time to play and be a tourist when not working.

     Dennis retired from AT&T/Lucent Technologies in April 1997 with 28½ years continuous service, and spends a lot of his time helping others. Dennis enjoys serving others and has been involved as a volunteer for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, MDA Dance-a-Thon, Easter Seals, Arizona Pioneers of Lucent Technologies, the Westside Food Bank. After being a member of Community Church of Joy since 1990, Dennis & wife Terese transfer their membership to "Joys" sister church, Community of Grace Church.

     Dennis is also the Clinic Administrator for his wifes' Chiropractic Office in Sun City West, AZ. Dennis is responsible for monetarily duties, such as payroll, interviewing and hiring positive motivated potential office staff. Dennis handles subletting of office space as necessary and handles many computer issues as they come up.

     Over the years, Dennis has served as an officer of many clubs. And still plays a very active role in the square dance activity. Dennis is currently calling for the Arizona Bachelor's & Bachorlette's of Phoenix, as well as numerous guest appearances throughout the Phoenix are and around the state. He has been secretary for the Central Arizona Caller’s Association on two different occasions.  Dennis has served three consecutive terms (1997-2000) as the Secretary of the Grand Canyon Square Dance Association, and was the 2001 Jamboree Chairperson. He also was their Web Administrator from 1996-2006.

     Dennis has been an active member in the Sun Cities Senior Softball League since moving to Sun City West in 2003. He plays softball 3 days per week. Dennis also has played in some tournament games since joining the league. His team took the Sun City West Spring Fling Tournament in March 2005. His wife, Terese sponsors two (2) teams (Co-ed team and a National League team). Besides managing, Dennis has been elected to the 2006-07 SCW Softball Club Board for a two (2) year team, and has been the League Newsletter Editor since 2004, and still finds time to play the game. But moreover, his loves taking leadership and serving his fellow teammates wherever he can.

     Dennis also designs, maintains, and provides numerous Web sites which include the Square & Round Dancers of Southern Arizona (SARDASA) and the Southern Arizona Callers & Cuers Association (SACCA). If you would like to have him design a web site for you, or need tech support just contact him for pricing and a free consultation.