Dennis Winn Carlyle, 79, died February 10 at his home in Kennewick, with family at his side, following a six-month battle with lymphoma. Dennis was born April 16, 1939 at St. Mary hospital in Walla Walla, the first child of Kenneth Carlyle and Ruth Nichols Carlyle. Later, the addition of two younger brothers, Thomas and Douglas completed the family. Dennis was raised in Walla Walla, graduating from Walla Walla High School in 1957. While attending WaHi he participated in ROTC, and upon graduation he joined the National Guard. Dennis met Margaret Joan Frazure at the skating rink in Walla Walla, they married on September 18, 1959. This past September, Dennis (or Denny as she called him) and Joan celebrated 59 years of marriage. Despite memory issues caused by the cancer, and separation due to his hospitalization in Seattle, Denny still remembered their anniversary and made certain his daughter brought him a card to sign for his bride. Following their marriage, Denny and Joan moved first to Pasco, then to Kennewick, where they raised their four children, cared for grandchildren and hosted holiday gatherings, making it truly a home for the family. Joan continues to live in that house, filled with mementoes of their lives together. The native stone fireplace and chimney he built as part of an addition to the house will stand for decades as tribute to Dennis' abilities, industriousness, creativity and love for making things with his hands. Dennis' working career included nearly twenty-five years at the Hanford area, first at PFP, followed by a break during which he founded and operated Central Cooling and Heating, and DandL Electric. He returned to Hanford in 1973, as the first state licensed journeyman electrician at N-Reactor. While there, he, along with a co-worker received an award for suggesting and later implementing a plan to radically redesign the controls for the Foster-Wheeler boiler generating system which provided emergency power back-up to the reactor, making the system more efficient and reliable. During this time Dennis returned to school, taking night classes after work. He eventually completed the requirements for a degree in Electrical Engineering. Dennis retired from Hanford in 1996 as a manager in the solid waste management division. His final project involved oversight of the program to permanently store the reactor compartments of the first generation of US nuclear powered submarines being mothballed by the Navy and shipped to the Hanford site. Dennis' hobbies and leisure activities centered on his family, and included nearly anything you can think of to do outdoors, including camping, hunting, fishing, hiking, shooting guns and bows, and picking his favorite huckleberries. He was a Washington State Master Gardener, and grew the best sweetcorn and tomatoes around. Keeping with the traditions they were both raised with, Dennis and Joan canned and preserved the food from their garden for use throughout the year. Thanksgiving dinner always included food from the previous summers' bounty. Thankfully, they imparted this knowledge and ability to their children. Following his retirement, Dennis returned to night school, taking classes to learn to be a machinist. After gaining knowledge and experience in this area, and the addition of a milling machine and metal lathe to his shop, he was ready and able to tackle just about any project. Whether it was made of wood, or metal, or just about anything else, Dennis could fix it or build a new one. When the decision was made to remodel inside the family room at the house, the first thing Dennis did was build a sawmill from odds and ends he picked up at scrap yards. He then used his sawmill, to prepare wood from trees he logged off of his own land in the mountains, to do the remodeling. His sawmill continues to function beautifully to this day. And the native pine wainscoting and trim are another visual reminder of his passion and skills. Once when somebody asked his six-year-old grandson what he'd been up to, he replied "been helpin granpa in his makin shop." Dennis was a founding member of the of the Walla Walla Valley muzzleloaders club. Shooting guns, studying them and teaching others about their proper use and safe handling was a lifelong passion. He competed successfully in shooting competitions of various types, including long range marksmanship and cowboy action shooting with the Single Action Shooting Society, building or refurbishing many of the guns he used in competition. He was a range officer at Rattlesnake Mountain Shooting Range. Dennis was an avid supporter and participant of the Boy Scouts of America, 4H, The National Rifle Association, The Griswold Cast Iron Collectors Society, and many other civic organizations throughout his life. He enjoyed any activity that involved kids and or the history of our nation In addition to his parents, Dennis was predeceased by his youngest brother Douglas. Survivors include his wife Joan, his children and their spouses; Donald (Shara), Jeffrey (Kim), Shelly Richards (Randy) and William. Eight Grandchildren; Jaime, Cherie, James, Britny, Lisa, Mariah, Nicholas and Spencer. And, ten Great-Grandchildren; Bailee, Chloe, Drew, Chase, Rylee, Ava, Zachary, Bailey, Zooey and Daphne, with the eleventh due to arrive in March. A memorial service is planned for Thursday, February 21 at 11:00 am, at Mueller's Tri-Cities Funeral Home in Kennewick, with a luncheon reception to follow. Dennis' family would be honored to have any interested persons attend. A private burial service is scheduled at a later date, in Milton-Freewater, Oregon, where many of his ancestors are interred. Viewing will be Wednesday evening, February 20 from 5 to 7 pm, and Thursday morning before the service.