Dennis Crone was born on August 20, 1957, to his parents Grace and Marvin. He grew up on the family farm in Freeport, Maine, and lived most of his life on the same land that generations of ancestors have called home.

Dennis was a self-taught carpenter by trade, but that was far from the limit of his talents. Although he never would give himself that much credit, he was a master joiner, furniture maker, and wood carver. He could fix anything that was broken, and always had an ambitious and never-ending list of projects that couldn't be finished in a century's time. He was thoroughly generous with his time or a helping hand to anyone who needed it. Denny always gave more for others than he did for himself.

Dennis was also an avid gardener, and had a green thumb that could make anything grow. He loved his vegetables, garlic, flowers (especially sunflowers), and berry orchards. This is a passion he taught and passed on to both of his sons.

Something else he passed on was a love of animals. For a long time, Dennis always wanted chickens, and several years ago finally got them. He hatched a few batches over the years, and kept a good brood of laying hens (and one surly, plotting rooster for a time), always giving away more dozens of eggs than he ever sold. It was all first class, boxes and perches in a 3 room coop, complete with electric lighting and compost scraps and vegetables from the garden. Of course free range all day long in the yard, and put to bed every night.

His house always had a few pets, usually a cat and a couple of dogs. It was also known to occasionally include an aquarium, birds and rabbits. Loki, and Cinnamon (who lived for 20 years from 1993-2013) were much treasured and doted on cats. Dennis may have seemed like a 'dog person' on the surface, but treated every single animal in his life with complete care, love and attention, and spoiled everybody equally. Dogs included Kasha and Sammy, Jessa, and most recently George and Reid. George was his best buddy, often going daily to work with him, and taking walks on lunch breaks. George passed away earlier this year from cancer. Reid is learning to live life without Dennis, just as we are.

Life is short, and his time with us was even shorter. Dennis Marvin Crone passed away on January 17, 2015 at 4:44am from body-wide cancer complicated by pneumonia. He was only 57 years old. We are all happy to have had him a part of our lives. Dennis was predeceased by his father Marvin in 2000, and best canine pal George in 2014. He is survived by his wife, Charmaine (Morin) Crone, his two sons, Aaron of Richmond and Phillip of Lisbon Falls, from his first marriage (Susan Doucette), step-daughter Jennifer Dunning of Lewiston, mother Grace (Noyes) Crone of Freeport, mother-in-law Lydia Crone of South Freeport, his siblings and their spouses: Gary Crone (Tracy Brooks) of Freeport, Diane (Peter Lee) of Mount Vernon, Gail (Marty Daigle) of Yarmouth, Joyce (Michael Breslosky) of Shenandoah, PA, 10 nephews, 1 niece, 11 great-nephews & nieces, many close cousins, and Reid his dog. He is infinitely loved by all of his family and will always be adored and remembered by all who shared a bit of life with Dennis.
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Family, friends and acquaintances are all welcome to share and contribute memories, messages, stories, photos, and more here. Help this collection of memories grow huge, like his gardens always did.
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The photo slideshow on this page is only a small amount of the photos graciously shared on this memorial.  To see all photos, videos, and messages, see 'Gallery' at the top of the page or the left-hand menu.  To view photos in a slideshow, open photo gallery and select Slideshow from the bottom of the page.

For general information, memorial service and remembrance gatherings, and donations for a memorial garden in Dennis's honor, please see 'Journal' at the top of this page.
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A memorial service for family and friends to remember Dennis is being planned for May.  Further information will be updated here (see 'Journal' at the top of this page.)  Contributors to this online memorial will also receive updates. You are welcome to send a private message to the family by 'Contact Aaron'.  Please consider contributing to this online memorial and help make it grow big like his gardens, and be a celebration of his life.  We all miss him very much.

A remembrance garden is being planned for spring and early summer construction to remember Dennis, celebrating the life and diversity he put into his gardens by filling it with contributions from his family, friends and acquaintance that can grow on in his memory.  Donations are more than welcome if you would like to contribute to this garden.  More details will be updated here (see 'Journal' at the top of the page) towards March, or you can 'Contact Aaron' for more information on contributing.