Denis Peter Richmond

Denis Peter Richmond, a father, grandfather, firefighter, soldier, carpenter, historian and storyteller, passed away February 5, 2025, after suffering a stroke. Our hearts are broken.

Denny, as he was affectionately known to his family and many friends, was born on March 7, 1941, in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He grew up on his parents’ farm on French Island, playing baseball for the Mugwumps, romping through the sloughs and swamps fishing and hunting squirrels, building homemade cannons and shooting his bow-and-arrow out of his bedroom window at birds. He paid the price for his antics at just two years old when he broke his leg leaping from haystacks. He spent many summers at his Uncle Doug and Aunt Sara’s farm in Stanley, Wisconsin.

He attended grade school at the Upper French Island one-room schoolhouse until his parents sent him to St. James parochial school in second grade. He later moved on to La Crosse Logan High School, where he ran track and qualified for the state tournament as a pole vaulter.

After graduating in 1959, he briefly attended the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse before enlisting in the U.S. Army. He was stationed in Texas and eventually deployed to the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea.

He was discharged in 1963 and returned home to La Crosse. He worked at the Rubber Mills for a time before becoming a facilities manager at drug distributor Yahr-Lange. He claimed he worked alongside a ghost at the company’s downtown warehouse but worked for the company in all its iterations for almost 40 years before he retired in 2004.

He met the love of his life, Marilyn Trocinski, of Dakota, Minnesota, on a blind date in 1964. They married in 1967. They loved dancing the polka together, going out to breakfast with friends and playing cards. He built the couple’s home on French Island himself, working from the end of his shift until the sun went down, and adamantly refused to ever leave the place.

He joined the Town of Campbell Volunteer Fire Department after leaving the Army. He spent 39 years with the department, rising to assistant chief and making lifelong friends along the way.

Denny was a fountain of local history. He knew every street name and intersection in La Crosse from memory and could relate family trees – his own and everyone’s else’s – as easily as breathing. He knew every family secret and related them all with a smirk. He was especially fond of informing his sons that almost everyone in the area was their cousin and could recall every fire that ever occurred within a 50-mile radius. He was still visiting burned down buildings and car accidents in his last days.

He followed his father’s footsteps as an accomplished carpenter, building furniture for friends and families. He once constructed a canoe in his basement before realizing he had no way to get it out.

He loved playing with his sons, Todd and Bill, wrestling with them every night after work, playing two-on-one football and basketball. He never let them win, but he was a closet softie who always knew when enough was enough and when to offer an encouraging word. He was especially proud of Bill’s career in the U.S. Navy and his decision to join a volunteer fire department in Annandale, Virginia.

Denny’s grandchildren, Gracelyn and Evan, were the apples of his eye. He created a tackling dummy for Evan out of a stuffed gunny sack he proudly nicknamed Underpants. He loved watching Evan play, traveling across the state for baseball tournaments and football games. A storyteller at heart, he was glad to have Evan close when he chose to attend UW-La Crosse and was never happier than when he was answering his questions about family history. 

He built cities out of blocks with Grace and spent cool October nights listening to the Legend of Sleepy Hollow with her. He was never prouder than when she obtained her master’s degree from the Einstein College of Medicine and had no doubt that she would go on to complete her Ph.D.

Denny was a member of Crucifixion Catholic Church in La Crescent, Minnesota. Survivors include wife Marilyn; sons Todd (Karen) of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin and Bill of McLean, Virginia; granddaughter Gracelyn Richmond of the Bronx, New York; grandson Evan Richmond; and numerous cousins, nephews and nieces. Denny was preceded in death by parents David and Imelda “Marian” Richmond; his sister, Avis Bell; and brother John Richmond.

A visitation will be held from 4-6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 14, at Schumacher-Kish Funeral Home, 200 West Avenue South in La Crosse. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 15, at Crucifixion Catholic Church, 423 South Second Street in La Crescent, Minnesota, with a visitation beginning an hour prior and a eulogy at 10:45 a.m.