Dennis Blackwell

At 1:28am on Monday 12/21/2020 Blackie Blackwell began his new adventure beyond the limitations of Earth! His final hours here were calm and peaceful. Know that he loved you and served his God well. * * * * * Dennis Blackwell’s story is impossible to tell in a few paragraphs. It is a privilege to be asked to write these words, though honestly, they will be both incomplete and inadequate. Dennis’ life is a fascinating story of explosive, wild, rich, varied experiences. He took risks. He savored adventures. He did extreme sports before they became popular. He loved deeply. He sacrificed for others. He grieved profoundly. He handled pain and disappointment as well as anyone I have ever known. He battled cancer heroically, inspirationally, ministering to others with laughter even as his abilities diminished and his life waned. Dennis was an irrepressible spirit. If you knew him, truly knew him, the word “irrepressible” needs no explanation. His life was full of genuine, spontaneous joy spiced with floods of laughter. One could never be sure what might happen next when Dennis was involved. In our 44 years of friendship I have watched Dennis raft down the New River in a rubber dinghy bought at K-mart. The official rafting company guides told him he was going to die. If that were not dangerous enough he threw caution to the wind and hiked back upstream so he could throw himself into the river and swim the rapids with just a small life preserver. He came out bloody but triumphant. He climbed rock faces without ropes. He jumped from a rock ledge 20 feet in the air onto the top of a maple sapling just to see if he could ride it to the ground. It almost worked. He challenged a buddy to match him as he did 100 MPH on the back of a motorcycle, just to say he had done it. He swam with sharks. Dove off bridges. Bungee jumped. Hunted rattlesnakes. Tried to keep up with experienced motocross racers on rugged mountain trails in West Virginia even though he had no experience and had to borrow a bike to do it. Some of the most spectacular crashes I have ever seen happened on those trips. If it was a challenge, if it was crazy, if it held a chance at an adventure, or even just a great story to be told later, count on Dennis to try it. Not surprisingly, he was often injured. These are just a few of the escapades that I saw. There are many more. So many that he wrote a manuscript about what happens to a man with high energy, low inhibitions and who lives with ADHD. It is hilarious. It is also a bit scary. There will be opportunity below for those who wish to share some of their own “Blackwell Adventures.” I look forward to reading them. Dennis was an athlete. He swam, wrestled and would try almost any sport put before him. He played soccer in every phase of life including adult leagues. As a testimony to the kind of player and leader that he was, Dennis was elected captain of his collegiate Division 1 soccer team at Ohio University in a year when he did not start. What does it say about Dennis’ quality that his college teammates made him captain even though he was not on the first string roster? Admiration is not always equal to the number of goals scored. Dennis loved deeply. He spoke of his bride Laura in the most endearing terms imaginable. He constantly thanked me for performing the ceremony that united the two of them, for, in his words, “She has become the best thing in my life outside of salvation.” When other husbands made fun of their wives, or lamented some minor aspect of married life, Dennis just smiled, shook his head and said, “Let me tell you about Laura!” I have never heard him say a negative word about her, publicly or privately. Dennis loved his family. He bragged about them constantly. There was an amazing array of brother, sister and parent stories that he loved to tell. We all know how Dennis loved powerful stories. One day Dennis called with grief cracking his voice. He told me how he had lost his brother JB. I listened quietly as Dennis told me a string of JB stories. Then he said, “JB always went by the nickname ‘Blackie.’ From now on I want you and all my friends to call me by that name. It is my way to honor him. And every time I hear it, I will remember him.” From that day forward anyone who called him Dennis would be gently asked to please call him Blackie.” So from this sentence forward, because of his love and honoring of a lost brother, Dennis shall be called Blackie. Blackie could write. He loved the beauty of words. Some folks are surprised to know that his employment included Managing Editor of “Success” magazine as well as Managing Editor of the Register-Herald Newspaper. These are not small jobs. He got them because he wrote well. His articles and editorials were well written, poignant, sometimes comedic and always entertaining. Blackie took journalistic honesty seriously. His stand on a coal mining issue created a severe backlash that included several death threats. He did not back down even when threatened. He gave up his journalistic career to become a Wycliffe missionary. His new plan was to work with Wycliffe Bible translators to bring hope, faith and good news to people who needed that message. That plan survived just a few short years. Blackie ended up recovering from a near life ending collision with a car as he was bicycling. The recovery was a struggle. That and other struggles that life sometimes throws at good people caused him to move to Ohio. But he never stopped being a missionary. If you asked Blackie what the best parts of his working life were in recent years, he would answer, “Helping people who are ex-cons, in trouble, impoverished, down on their luck or simply struggling through life’s crises find a path forward.” His prized possessions included a stack of letters from those very folks who let him know how he had helped change their lives. Blackie’s generosity ran so deep he once gave $5,000 from his own meagre resources to a couple who had both lost their jobs. They had not asked for help, he just felt a call to step in. All of the above describes bits and pieces of Blackie. However, the one essential ingredient, the one indispensable piece that runs through his life, like a backbone through a body, was his faith. His life shone with a childlike faith. Do not be fooled. Childlike does not mean powerless. Blackie was an informed, intelligent, loving, compassionate yet unrelenting warrior for God. His faith was not a convenient one. Blackie did not rewrite Scripture nor edit the words of Christ so that faith could be molded to his own whims and inclinations. It was not tradition nor culture that defined his faith. Blackie felt God’s truth was not something he could negotiate away to make life comfortable. Faith molded Blackie, not the other way around. His strength of faith sometimes made others uncomfortable, strong faith does that. Blackie was fearless about his faith. There were times when that cost him. His knowledge was profound enough that he often was asked to preach. He was servant enough that he gladly did menial tasks from gardening to debris removal. If the Kingdom of God was advanced, Blackie would help. He will be profoundly missed by this mortal remnant. From his signature orange to his explosive laughter. From the way he handled joy to the way he handled cancer. All of it. God had fun the day he knit this amazing man together. For those of us who try to have a faith like Blackie’s… well, the fun has just begun. Written by Mark Montgomery A livestreaming link will be provided at the time of service on May 15, 2021 at 1:00 P.M. In person attendance is by invitation only. Anyone sending flowers, please refrain from sending Lilies or Eucalyptus due to family allergies.