Photo by Jeff Clemens - The Dennis's, Randy, Brent and Gary Dennis, said goodbye to the community on Friday, March 23 after 113 years.
The Dennis Family who have owned Dennis Company for 113 years said their final goodbye on March 23 to the community that has cherished them for generations. Their dynasty of ownership of Dennis Company officially has come to a close.
The Dennis' held a retirement party at the Northwest Carriage Museum to celebrate their family run business that began in Raymond in 1905 with a dinner, silent auction, and speech from Brent and Randy Dennis themselves.
The night began at 5:30 p.m. with a buffet style dinner garnered in with a bell ringing and announcement from museum curator Jerry Bowman as standing room was quickly filling up. Roughly around 150 people from all over Pacific and Grays Harbor Counties came to say one final thank you.
New owners of Dennis Company, Westlake Ace hardware, had several executives in attendance including Westlake President and COO Joe Jeffries and CEO Tom Knox to honor the retirement of the Dennis' and complete a handing of the torch to the new ownership.
Late in the evening after a long anticipated wait Brent and Randy Dennis both addressed the crowd thanking them for attending and most of all for all the years of support. "I just want to thank everybody for coming," Randy said. "Our customers, our vendors, all of our employees. We just love this community and we're really gonna miss it a lot."
After all was said and done everyone in attendance gave the Dennis family a standing ovation and round of applause. With several cheers of, "thank you so much" and "we will miss you', with many in attendance holding back tears.
The Dennis' mingled with the attendees the entire night reminiscing about the years past and what the new beginning means for them. "It sure feels weird that this is coming to an end," Brent said. "But the time has come and it's time to say goodbye. We're sad to see it, but time has changed."
Gary and Cec Dennis made a donation in 2002 giving their own private carriage collection to the Northwest Carriage Museum giving life to and starting the museum. What better place for the family to hold their final celebration to the community than a place that will always hold a piece of their heart, right across the street from the very first building of Dennis Company.
March 26 Westlake officially took over Dennis Company and is poised to keep the long standing tradition of serving local communities just as the Dennis's did for 113 years. "Interesting enough," Brent said. "Westlake also formed in 1905 and have been in business for 113 years too. I have no doubt they will be great to the community. They share the same values we have held our name to."
The Herald along with all the local communities would like to send out a heartfelt thank you to the Dennis family for 113 years of outstanding service. We all wish you the best!