Dennis Leonard Hart was born August 13, 1940, to Merle and Andy Hart in Southgate California and passed away on March 24, 2025, after a brief battle with cancer. He grew up in Sunland-Tujunga, California where he went to Verdugo Hills High School until he joined the Navy in May 1959.   

During his time in the Navy, Denny was a Gunner’s mate on the Destroyer the USS Reuben James DD245 and later, the USS Fort Marion (LSD-22).  During his time with the Navy, Denny also acted as a Bar Pilot navigating ships across the Columbia River Bar at the mouth of the Columbia River.  It is considered one of the most dangerous bar crossings in the world and is known as the “graveyard of the pacific”.  After his service, Denny received an honorable discharge from the Navy in May of 1963.  

After the Navy, Denny returned to Sunland-Tujunga and had a long career with General Telephone Electric (GTE) company (later Verizon) beginning his career as a lineman, later becoming a cable splicer and retiring as a special services technician after 35 years. 

In 2001, after retiring from the phone company, Denny moved from California to Washington State to be closer to family, settling in Kennewick.   

Denny was intensely private but also very family oriented.  While he never married, he deeply loved his extended family – he built a playhouse for his nieces and nephews where he always had toys and remote-control cars and trucks to play with, and as the kids grew up, toys were traded for BB guns and Buck knives. 

Denny loved the outdoors – fishing, hunting, camping, hiking and target shooting.  He was at home in the mountains of High Sierra’s where he frequently enjoyed the natural hot springs, visiting nearby Bodie ghost town and the tiny town of Bridgeport.  Denny was never one to turn down a Jolly Cone ice cream or a trip to Ken’s Sporting Goods.  Every October, he would make the trip to Convict Lake to camp and every opening trout season he spent at Crowley Lake in the Sierra’s.  Family trips to the Sierra’s included a hike to the “coin tree” at Hunewill lake.  Athletic and strong, Denny remained active well into his 70’s; at the age of 63 he climbed Mt. St. Helens and again at the age of 67.  He also loved the beach and enjoyed trips to Carpenteria Beach in California. 

Above all, Denny was an artist.  He was born to paint, and it was one of his greatest passions.  His painting room filled with canvas oil paintings of mountain landscapes and lakes, covered bridges, wildlife and horses.  Many paintings were inspired by the places he loved and represented places and times that were special to him. 

Denny had a large extended family and is survived by his sisters Merle Kite, Susan Hickey and Janice Lucy and many nieces, nephews, great nieces, and great nephews.  

He was preceded in death by his father Leonard Andrew Hart and his mother Merle Eldora Hart, his brother-in-law Herbert Hickey, his brother-in-law Fred Kite and his great-nephew Kory Hickey. 

“Let us dry our eyes, let our hearts sing, this is not the end, it is only the beginning.  We will see you again.  We love you.”