Dennis Ralph Sorenson

Dennis Ralph Sorenson age 83 of Aurora, Colorado passed away June 3, 2024.

Dennis was born November 18, 1940 in a rented farmhouse in Granville Township south of Lancaster, Minnesota the second child of Marvin and Ethel Rose Anna (Linstrom) Sorenson. His siblings include Darrel Marvin (1939-1946), Annette Virginia (1943), James Leland (1944), Marie Lee (1947-1947) and Jane Louise (1952).

His Parents had purchased farmland in Percy Township northeast of Lake Bronson. They planned to move into a large house on that property the following spring but their plans were changed when they learned that the property they had purchased contained no buildings because it was 1/2 mile north of the property with the large house. They lived the spring and summer of 1941 in their grandfather Lindstrom's granary while great-grandfather Nordling built a 2-story log house with white siding and a small log barn for them. Their new home featured a natural log interior, dipper pail water, and outhouse or slop pail plumbing. In 1945 Marvin bought the old Lancaster Creamery building and disassembled it to build a machine shed/granary on their farm; he bought his sons Darrel and Dennis small hammers and wrecking bars to entertain them during the disassembly.

Unfortunately, Dennis best friend and older brother Darrel did not live to see the reassembly of the building because he died of leukemia in 1946. Also in 1946 they added a kitchen, bathroom (but no plumbing) and a porch. 1947 was a sad year for them when sister Marie was born but died a 7 months of a brain tumor. in 1949 REA came through and they got lights, running water and plumbing.

Dennis was the runt of his class growing up because he went without a shirt most of each summer to feed swarms of blood sucking mosquitoes. He learned to drive a tractor in third grade and helped his dad break several acres of wooded land.

He graduated from LBHS in 1958 and immediately enlisted in the US Army, serving 12 years active duty in Colorado, Indiana, West Germany, DC (Army Commendation Medal, California and Vietnam (Bronze Star Medal). He went through Jump school in Germany and made 24 parachute jumps throughout Europe and 2 jumps at Fort Bragg, NC. While serving in the Army Chief of Staff's Office at the Pentagon (1963-1964) he participated in the planning for and execution of the funeral for President John F. Kennedy. During that first tour at the Pentagon, he met his future wife, Ruth Esther (Carter) Little from Allegany, NY and they were married at Costa Mesa, CA October 3, 1964, where Dennis was earning and AA in ADP. During his Vietnam tour (1968-1969) he oversaw the conversion of all digital US Army personnel files in Vietnam from the old service number to SSAN. In that endeavor he made 2 TDY trips to Hawaii to coordinate the conversion with Pentagon officials and later to actually convert the Vietnam files. His wife Ruth came to join him in Hawaii for several days during the second visit. Shortly before his departure from Vietnam he took R&R to Japan and was on a bus tour that stopped at the base of Mt. Fuji when our astronauts landed on the moon. The entire TV broadcast was in Japanese except the live statements by our astronaut. He was honorably discharged in DC in June 1970.

After his military service they lived in the DC area where Dennis worked in the private sector for Cybermatics and the US government for DOD and FCC, then on to South Carolina at Bob Jones University and Colorado (Dod and DoI) before returning to DC (DOT) and retiring as US civil servants.

After retirement, they lived in Virginia, Florida, South Carolina and Colorado. Dennis was a faithful husband and father, who enjoyed humoring total strangers to get them to smile, and who endeavored to faithfully serve his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. During his retirement he developed extensive family histories for his immediate families and as a result of that activity, saw the need for and developed several indexes to aid genealogical research at his hometown Kittson County Museum. Declining vision issues have limited his productivity and eliminated driving in recent years.

Surviving are his wife of 59 years, Ruth Esther (Carter) Little Sorenson of Aurora, CO, step-son Mark Edward (Chessie) Little of Littleton, CO; son Todd Marvin (Sheila) Sorenson of Aurora, CO; step-granddaughters Megan Ruth Little of Denver, CO and Alyssa Rae Randell (David) Johnson of Aurora, CO; step-great-granddaughter Aubrey Rose Johnson and step-great-grandson Dawson Dean Johnson of Aurora, CO; sister Annette (Gene) Stout of Victorville, CA; brother James Sorenson of Lake Bronson, MN; and sister Jane Cornell of Fargo, ND as well as several aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his father Marvin (1914-1995) and mother Ethel (1917-2009), brother Darrel (1939-1946) and sister Marie (1947-1947).

He was a born again Christian. His faith in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior assured him of his eternal home in heaven. His adult lifetime Bible verses were Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV.

At his request there will be no public viewing or memorial service; he will be buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver, Colorado.

Memorials may be made to the Kittson County Historial Society and Museum, Genealogy Research Fund, 332 E. Main St., Lake Bronson, MN 56734, email: history@wiktel.com or Odosagih Bible Conference, PO Box 107, Machias, NY 14101-0107 email: odosagih@gmail.com, www.odosagih.org. Odosagih is a Seneca Indian word meaning "Living Waters"; it sits on the shore of a large spring-fed lake.