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Amarie Dennis, 98, Essex

Amarie Dennis, 98, a resident of Essex Meadows, died on Dec. 7.  She was the wife of the late George Dennis. Mrs. Dennis was born in Taunton, Massachusetts, on Nov. 20, 1912, daughter of the late James Payton Whitters and Florence Walters Whitters.  Her father, a manufacturing pharmacist, was the creator of the product named Alkalol.

Mrs. Dennis attended local schools in her early years and transferred to House in the Pines, a private school, after finishing the eighth grade.  Five years later, she entered Smith College, spent her junior year in Spain, and graduated cum laude and Phi Betta Kappa in 1934.

After teaching Spanish for a year, Mrs. Dennis returned to Spain to work on a master’s degree.  There she met and became engaged to George Dennis, who was stationed in Madrid with a team from the International Telephone and Telegraph Company, which at that time owned and operated the Spanish telephone systems.  After a few months, Mr. Dennis was transferred to Belgium, the Spanish Civil War broke out, and Mrs. Dennis returned to the USA.   

Finally, in January 1937, the couple was married in Antwerp, and they were immediately assigned to Portugal.  Six months later, Mr. Dennis was called back to Madrid, and Mrs. Dennis again returned to the USA, where she gave birth to their son, Ward. To be nearer to her husband, she made her home in St. Jean de Luz, France, near the Spanish border.

With the invasion of Hitler’s troops and the outbreak of World War II, Mrs. Dennis was allowed to enter Spain, where conditions were very bad at the end of the Civil War.  A year later, when Hitler’s troops reached the Spanish border, all Americans with children received orders from the State Department to leave.  

After their first war-time crossing of the Atlantic, she and Ward remained stateside for four years.  Then, with government permission, they made their second crossing on a neutral ship and rejoined Mr. Dennis just prior to D-Day.

During the next 18 years, the family made their homes in Rome (when Mrs. Dennis and Ward crossed on a USA Troop-transport ship), London, New York, Madrid (twice) and Buenos Aires.  

In 1960, Mr. Dennis took early retirement, after which they made their home in Madrid for 28 years.  During this time, Mrs. Dennis researched in the Spanish Archives, published six books, did volunteer work for the Spanish Red Cross, was on the vestry of the Anglican Church of St. George, gave lectures, and was one of three members of the Fulbright Committee (the others being a representative from the American Embassy and the Spanish Minister of Education).

Mrs. Dennis was the author of five biographies and a book of poems.  Four books dealt with the lives of 16th century figures, namely Joan the Mad, St. Francis Borgia, Don Juan of Austria, and King Philip III.  The fifth was about the Patron Saint of Madrid, St. Isidro.  For her literary work Mrs. Dennis received an honorary doctor of letters degree from Middlebury College, and was made a knight commander of the Order of Alfonso X the Wise by the Spanish Government, the highest literary decoration in Spain.

In 1988, the Mr. and Mrs. Dennis returned to the USA.  Following the death of Mr. Dennis in 1989, and that of Ward in 1992, Mrs. Dennis decided to move to Essex Meadows.  At the time of his death, Ward was the dean of the School of General Studies at Columbia University.

Mrs. Dennis is survived by three grandchildren, Ward Stuart Dennis and his wife Carol of Brooklyn, New York, Heather Amarie Parsons and her husband Chris of Niantic, and John Bradford Dennis of Brooklyn, New York.  She is also survived by five great-grandchildren, Quintin and Georgia Parsons, and Luc, Julia, and Ava Dennis.

A private burial service, officiated by The Reverend Canon Peter Larom, will be held in the Valhalla Cemetery in Valhalla, New York, at a date that is convenient for family members. Memorial gifts may be made to the Essex Meadows Scholarship Fund, or to the Amarie Dennis Scholarship Fund at Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts. The Robinson, Wright & Weymer Funeral Home, Centerbrook, is in charge of arrangements.