The "A True Hero" Story

Denny signing one of his books

It was an ordinary day.  Sitting in the afternoon sun in the dining room of one of my friends from years ago.  In the early '80s Dr. Dennis Denenberg was the Assistant Superintendent of Manheim Township School District where I taught high school.  I got to know him very well, since I did quite a bit of the in-house printing and Denny had me do most of his printing.  He also got to know my wife Carol who worked for the school district  writing stories for our local Merchandiser Newspaper.  Denny was a real inspiring person.  Could bring out the best in just about anyone.  He would always greet you with a smile from ear to ear.  Well, Denny left good old MT after a few years and took a position with Millersville University as a professor in the Elementary Education Department.  One of his new duties was to observe student teachers as they taught lessons in the classroom.  He found he was dismayed to see these student teachers as well as their supervising teachers using cartoon characters in their lessons as well as on their bulletin boards instead of real-life heroes.  Finally in 1989 he wrote a one-page article on the subject in a teacher's magazine.  Eleven years later he wrote, with the help of long-time friend Lorraine Roscoe, a book titled "50 American Heroes Every Kid Should Meet."  I saw a copy of his book in a local bookstore a few years ago and thought that when my grandkids were old enough to read and understand the book, I would buy them a copy of it.  The reason I'm sitting in Denny's dining room today is to purchase three books from him and have him autograph them for my three grandchildren. The time has come to share his heroes with my heroes.  Included in the book are heroes such as Clara Barton, Jimmy Carter, Mary Cassatt, Roberto Clemente, Bill Cosby, Walt Disney, The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jonas Salk and Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.  You see he has covered the spectrum from medicine to religion to politics to sports.  The book has been revised from the original version to include a few modern-day heroes.  It is easily understood by a child who can read and I hope my grandchildren will use it to read as well as make reports in their classes on some of the heroes.  When I wrote the check for Denny he told me that the entire amount will be given in honor of his older sister who died in 2007 from breast cancer.  He has established the "Diana's Dreamers" endowment at Millersville University to fund a national online collegiate organization to promote breast awareness among college-age women and men.  All proceeds from the sale of the book are donated in honor of his sister, Diana Denenberg Durand.  He also has created a "spirit garden" dedicated to his sister's memory next to his home and invited my wife and me to view all the pink flowers in the garden in the spring.  I'm sure Carol and I will love it as well as our visit with Denny, hashing over old times and good friendships.  Oh, and I'm sure my grandkids will love their new book.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Cover of Denny's Book

Inside title page with Denny signing