Today's Featured Biography

 
Dennis (Denny) Broderick

After graduating from BCH, I attended UW Stevens Point for one year. I really wasn’t ready for college especially with all those new found freedoms available to me. So in the summer of 66 I started working at McNeany’s Department Store. By May of 67 I headed out to LA, and then up to San Francisco. California was a great place to be during that time. I left San Francisco, and headed back to Beloit the end of Aug of 67. When I got back to Beloit, I got a job in the Fairbanks Morse foundry as a lab tech. In January of 68 I was part of the foundry layoffs that hit FM big time. During the time I was looking for work my dad gave me a flier he had received at his office. It was from a company in Rockford that was training people to be computer programmers. Going there started me off on my career path. During the time I was in training I worked at George Bros. west side store. In Aug of 69 I completed the programming courses, and got a job back at Fairbanks as a computer operator. In Aug of 70, I moved back out to LA seeking fame and fortune, and right into the teeth of the areo-space layoffs. That meant any kind of computer positions were few and far between. I was eventually able to find employment at a Broadway Department Store. Thank you McNeany’s for the shipping and receiving training. I lived the in LA area until March of 73, when I again moved back to Beloit. In April I was hired at Fairbanks. This time as a fuel injection test lab tech. I held that position until Aug, and then an opportunity opened in the computer room.
Also, in Aug of 73 I married Judi Pettingill, BMHS 66, whom I had met in the summer of 68. We purchased a house at 950 Garfield Ave. I also started attending Judson Baptist Church in Garden Village. That is a story in and of itself. Had three children Nichole in 77, Justin in 80, and Tiphanie in 82.
In 1980 I was hired by Greenlee – Textron in Rockford. That’s where I would spend the next 21 years of my life. The first few as a programmer, and the remainder as a Small System Specialist. A fancy name for a Mac/PC specialist and assistant computer room manager. I worked at Greenlee until I was downsized at the beginning of 2001. I was able to eventually find a job at Beloit College as the campus “Mac Guy”. Also, in 2001 my marriage started to dissolve, and eventually ended in divorce. I worked at the campus until my retirement in Dec 2018.
In 2006 I met Paulette Lucas, the lady who has been an essential part of my life ever since.
Since retiring we’ve been doing a lot of traveling, those on Facebook have had the chance to travel along with us. We’ve also been spending time with my grandkids and Paulette’s grandkids. I have been blessed with 4 grandkids, Bea (Nichole) 13 mos., Hannah 12, Sophie 10 (Justin), Teigean 12 (Tiphanie), and Paulette’s two Dori & Lucas. Retirement has been the best job I've had.

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