Brother Dennis Derr

Dennis A. Derr, 79, of North Kingstown passed away peacefully on January 6th. He was the eldest son of the late Harry and Rosanna (Northup) Derr. He leaves behind his beloved wife, Marilyn (Razee) Derr, and children, Jessica Millette of North Kingstown and her husband Matthew, and Michael Derr of North Kingstown and his wife Elysabeth. He was the proud grandfather of Theodora Derr, Katelyn Millette and Joshua Millette. He was brother to Judy Ford, Betsy Derr and Jason Derr. He was predeceased by his brother Larry Derr.

Dennis was raised in East Greenwich, where he loved playing around the waterfront as a child. Some of his fondest memories were going out shellfishing with his grandfather Everett Northup. His love of the water led to many wonderful memories on his own boats with his family on Narragansett Bay. A sailor at heart, Dennis loved everything about boats. One of his favorite hobbies was working on an old boat to make it function better and look beautiful. In fact, he seemed just as happy to be under a boat scraping off bottom paint as he was to be at the helm sailing on a beautiful day.

Following in his grand- father's footsteps, Dennis developed a natural curiosity toward the electrical trade at a young age. He was always fascinated by electricity and truly loved the challenge of solving a problem and brightening (pun intended) someone's day. Although he was an electrician, he had a wealth of knowledge in all trades and could always be relied on when something inevitably broke and needed repair. Dennis was lucky to have a profession that never felt like a job to him.

Dennis met the love of his life, Marilyn, while working at Hathaway's Records in East Greenwich over 55 years ago. They have been together ever since. In addition to raising their children, they shared countless wonderful memories throughout the decades. They enjoyed going on family road trips, sailing on their boat Drifter and spending time together at Lake Mishnock. However, their greatest joy in recent years was watching their grandchildren grow up.

Dennis will be remembered as a wonderful husband, father and grandfather. We will miss his loving personality, positive attitude, sense of humor and good nature. He was truly a great family man.

Fair winds and following seas, Dad. We love you.

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