Our Story  

Dennis, born in Dallas, Texas, graduated from Lawrence D. Bell High school in 1965.  He attended Howard Payne College and William Jewell College before serving four years in the U.S. Navy.  After completing his military service in 1970 he received his aviation maintenance training in San Diego, CA.

Patti, born in San Diego, CA, graduated from Mt. Miguel High school in 1964 and San Diego State University in 1968 receiving her B.A. in Social Sciences with an emphasis in Sociology and Anthropology and her K-8 Teaching Credential.

Dennis and Patti were married in San Diego in July 1969 and have three children.  Becki and Jerry, her husband, live in Wilmington, NC.  Sara, Marty and their family (including four daughters) live in York, SC.  Josh and Anna, his wife, live and work in Sydney, Australia.

Dennis and Patti became members of Wycliffe Bible Translators in July 1976 and serve through Wycliffe's technical support arm JAARS.

After completing Wycliffe's  initial training and JAARS Orientation,  Dennis and Patti’s first assignment was to the Wycliffe Bible Translators/JAARS Center, Waxhaw, North Carolina for almost one year.  In the early Fall of 1978 they began service in Ecuador, South America, until 1981; at that time the flight program was phased out along with the closure and turnover of the Limoncocha jungle center to the government of Ecuador.  They were then reassigned to the JAARS Center in North Carolina for five and a half years.  They joined Wycliffe’s Maluku, Indonesia, team in June, 1987.  Then in June, 1997, Dennis and Patti were again invited to serve at the JAARS Center.  Dennis’ position on the JAARS aviation training staff is Coordinator of Aviation Maintenance Training and Patti serves as JAARS Educational Coordinator and Child Safety Coordinator.