Robert R "Bob" Denning
Marriages
Kate Kercheval Woodbridge - 1975
Burial Details
Obituaries
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel page 6B In Memorium - March 11, 2014
Please come to a memorial gathering for Bob on Thursday, April 3rd,
3 - 5:00 p.m., at Two Rivers Winery, 2087 Broadway, Grand Junction.
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel page 3D Death Notice - December 1, 2013
Robert R. Denning, 82, Grand Junction, died Nov. 27, 2013, at
his home.
A memorial service is pending with Callahan-Edfast Mortuary.
Mr. Denning was president and owner of The Denning Lumber
Co. Survivors include his wife, Kate.
Memorial contributions to the Grand Junction Symphony, 414
Main St., Grand Junction 81501 (or at www.gjsymphony.org) or
to the Western Colorado Community Foundation, P.O. Box 4334,
Grand Junction 81502.
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel page 7B Obituary - December 18, 2013
Robert R. Denning, of Grand Junction, CO, died unexpectedly November 27, 2013, at home. He was 82. A well known ocal businessman, he was the owner and president of the Denning Lumber Company at 432 North Avenue until selling the business in 1994. Bob was born June 23, 1931, in Pueblo, to Rufus Raymond Denning and Velma Aileen Hopper Denning. He lived in Manzanola, CO, until the family moved to Grand Junction in 1938. Bob attended schools in Grand Junction, graduating from Grand Junction High School in 1949. He went on to Stanford University in California, where his mother, an aunt, and sister had been students. He earned B.A. and M.B.A. degrees while there. He was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he served from 1955 – 1957 as a business administrative assistant in San Antonio, Texas. Bob and Kate Kercheval Woodbridge, of New York, NY, were married in 1975. She survives him. On his return to Grand Junction in 1957, Bob joined the lumber company started in 1946 by his father and Bill Blevins, who later sold to the Dennings. For some 40 years, Bob nurtured the company, growing the customer base to include “do-it-yourselfers” with the help of an Ace Hardware franchise and new buildings in 1975. Bob felt the business had developed a “home-center” concept best known now through big-box stores. Bob served two terms in the 1980s on the board of Ace Hardware Corp., of Oak Brook, IL. He consulted in Micronesia for Ace. For more than 50 years Bob played in orchestras starting during high school in the violin section of Mesa College Symphony and continuing as a member of the university orchestra while at
Stanford. He later rejoined the local symphony. In order to play string-quartet music with orchestra friends, Bob took up the viola, prompting a move to the orchestra’s viola section. He was a co-principal and played through the 2009 – 2010 season. He was a member of the Evergreen String Quartet. He studied violin and viola with members of the orchestras of San Antonio and Chicago, opportunities made possible by army service and board membership with Ace Hardware. Bob and other local players traveled several summers to Wisconsin for coaching by the Manhattan String Quartet. in 1978, ob was among members of Mesa College Civic Symphony proposing new sponsorship for the orchestra. They created the Musical Arts Association. Under the Association the Grand Junction symphony has been able to chart its own course and recruit nationally for conductors and soloists. The Grand Junction Symphony Foundation was later established. Bob served on the first boards of both organizations and continued on the Foundation board. Bob was a board member of Western Colorado Center for the Arts, now The Art Center and served on the committee for the Readers Festival. He was elected in 1979 to the board of Mesa Federal Savings and Loan Association, now ANB Bank. In 1989, he joined the Board of Colorado National Bank and continued as an adviser when the bank was sold to Bank of Colorado. He served on
Rocky Mountain Health Plans board of directors for more than 20 years and was chairman for many of those years. He had a special passion for the work of the RMHP Foundation and until 2006 was a member of that board. He chaired a March of Dimes campaign and was a member of the Salvation Army Advisory Board. He joined the Grand Junction Rotary Club in 1971, was president in 1982, and stayed a member through his retirement years. In 1996, Bob was a founding trustee of Western Colorado Community Foundation and served as first chairman. Bob played tennis, skied, and was a runner. He liked to read and travel. He enjoyed people, and it was often said wherever you are with him, Bob finds omeone he knows. There are no survivors other than his wife. Bob’s sister, Barbara Jeanne Denning Finberg, of New York, NY, predeceased him. There will be a memorial gathering at a later date. Contributions may be made to Western Colorado Community Foundation, P.O. Box 4334, Grand Junction, 81502 or Grand Junction Symphony, 414 Main St., Grand Junction, 81501.
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel page 3D In Memoriam - March 30, 2014
