Deceased October 8, 2006
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In Memory
On October 8, 2006, my good friend of a lifetime, Noel Dennis Stafford, Jr., passed away at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida. Dennis died of a complication from multiple myeloma, from which he had suffered for over a year.
My picture of Dennis is grounded in our college relationship. Upon reflecting on our friendship after his death I realized that much of my happy memory of Amherst was a result of this working friendship during our time in college. We were not fraternity brothers nor, as far as I can remember, did we share a single class at Amherst, yet we were good friends all four years. We met on the soccer field as freshmen, Dennis as a fullback from The George School – Dennis eventually became manager of the soccer team. We roomed together in North as sophomores and enjoyed many social adventures together both on campus and off.
In college I learned that Dennis was a relationship master – that is he took a focused interest in the people that he encountered. In college and throughout his life, as he accumulated new friends, he worked hard at maintaining his old ones. For example, it was his habit in later life to visit not only his former girlfriends (with his wife), but, to my dismay, mine as well.
At about the time that he came to Amherst Dennis spent a summer living with a family in France. As a result of that experience he spoke fluent French and never stopped traveling. Dennis loved the outdoors and new adventures. He enjoyed sports and kept himself in top shape. I think that at sixty-five he was in better condition than he was when he graduated from Amherst.
After Amherst Dennis went to O.C.S. and was commissioned in the Navy. He spent four and one-half years working in the office of the Chief of Naval Operations as an intelligence officer. He then worked in banking for the New York Federal Reserve Bank and later for The Bank of New York before becoming a Vice President of the American Stock Exchange. Later he worked in the brokerage field in Boston for Burgess & Leith and then at Advest Inc. in Hartford as Vice President of Research and Corporate Finance.
Following our military service years I noticed a definite change in Dennis. There was an infusion of religious fervor into every aspect of his life that I thought that I had not seen before. Dennis, in his own way, became an evangelist and participated in missions to Vietnam, Liberia and the Dominican Republic. Until after his death I could not account for this. However, then I learned that during his naval career Dennis had had a religious experience which profoundly altered his approach to life. From that point on his faith was a strong part of his character and played a role in all of his relationships.
In retirement Dennis split time, when not traveling to see friends, between his summer home on Frye Island on Lake Sebago, Maine, and his permanent residence in Lutz, Florida. Dennis was beloved by his family. His wife of forty-four years, Cathy, had a gentle, loving and firm way of directing his exuberance. In addition to Catherine he is survived by his two daughters, Karen Lee Ferguson and Cynthia Eleanor Derrenbacker, his sons-in-law, John Ferguson and Robert Derrenbacker, Jr., four grandchildren, Nathaniel and Elizabeth Ferguson and Chloe and John Derrenbacker, his brother, Brian Stafford, and Brian’s wife, Ann Stafford, eight nieces and nephews, and by friends too numerous to know. Dennis’ younger brother, Craig, predeceased him.
Dennis was marked by an intense curiosity about people and an exuberant love of life. These characteristics in combination with his integrity and generous spirit are fondly remembered and sorely missed by his family and by all of us who knew him.
John Goddard '58