Connie Dennis

Connie Dennis died peacefully at home on Thursday, September 11 with her children by her side, just weeks after celebrating her 90th birthday with family and friends.

Connie was born in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada and moved to the United States in the late 1950’s. She lived in Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina, raising her four children before settling in Saranac Lake in 1985. She came to Saranac Lake with her late husband, Father Rick Dennis, when he accepted the calling to be rector of the Episcopal Church of St. Luke the Beloved Physician. Drawn by the beauty of the Adirondack Mountains, they cherished their time and life together in Saranac Lake. Nothing made her happier than packing a picnic lunch and gathering friends and family to go out on their pontoon boat, “The Holy Roller,” for an afternoon on the lakes.

Connie spent several years working with the Saranac Lake Voluntary Health Association, as well as being the St. Luke’s parish secretary. To know Connie was to love Connie. She had a personality as big as the Adirondack Park! She was a gifted artist, seamstress, baker, knitter and crafts person. She was always busy doing something with her hands. Her family and friends cherished her annual homemade Christmas ornaments, Valentine’s cards and hand painted Easter eggs. Her children have said she was capable of “knitting a Buick” and would fondly call her Connie the Craft Queen.

She knew how to make an entrance with style and panache and would light up any room. Surely her entrance into heaven was a grand one! She is loved and will be greatly missed by her children, Tanner (Louis), Christopher (Karin), Philip (Michael), Clara Susan, her stepchildren, Robert (Suzy) and Jessica, her brother Don of St. John’s, as well as her many grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

Her children would like to take this opportunity to say thank you and express their gratitude to her many friends and caregivers who were there for her, especially the loving friendship and care given by Rosanne Brogan and Maureen MacDowell, both of whom Connie loved dearly. As Connie would have said, Bless your darling sweet hearts!

Funeral arrangements are in care of the Fortune-Keough Funeral Home in Saranac Lake.

A celebration of Connie’s glorious life will be held at 11:00 AM Friday, September 19, at The Church of St. Luke the Beloved Physician, 136 Main Street, Saranac Lake, with a reception following in the church parish hall.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be made In Connie’s name to either High Peaks Hospice or Saranac Lake Health Association. Family and friends can also share their condolences and memories at forutnekoughfuenralhome.com.