James "Jim" Dennis

On a cold day in March 1929, a beautiful boy was born to E.V. and Leah Trosper Dennis. His creativity displayed itself in grade school when he painted a mural of leaping deer which the school displayed for several years in its entrance hall. In middle school he taught himself to be a ventriloquist, and he performed with his dummy Butch all over town. He would also eagerly read "Popular Mechanics" and made a radio and many other items described in the magazine. Jim's parents bought a record player which fascinated him. He decided that he could design a better one, and he did. He designed one, made a handmade sample, put it in a suitcase and showed it to all the major manufacturers on the East coast. He licensed the design to Glaser-Steers Company which sold the record changers for several years. One of his later designs was the first automatic changer that could play intermixed records of different sizes and speeds. Another design was a compact disc player which could be loaded and reloaded while playing another CD. Both of these became industry standards, selling world-wide in the millions by General Electric, Magnavox, Pioneer, Phillips RCA, Sony, San Sui and others. He traveled the world overseeing the manufacture of his designs in the U.S., England, Taiwan and China. His continuing innovations earned 38 U.S. patents as well as registrations in many other countries. Jim's income from licensing these designs provided his living for over 40 years. In 1997 Jim's achievements were realized by his induction into the Oklahoma Inventors Hall of Fame. He was an independent inventor and owned his own designs. Jim was recognized by his college fraternity when they presented him with the Sigma Chi "Significant Sig" award. Jim was also the owner of Sunnylane cemetery which he managed for decades. Jim loved travelling, golf, OU football and friends, but above all he loved his family. He set an excellent example of honesty, integrity, truthfulness, self-confidence, kindness, cheerfulness, wisdom and unconditional love. He was preceded in death by his mother and father, brother Frank, daughters Julie and Karin, and nephew Richard Dennis (Gayle). He will be sorely missed by wife Patricia, daughter Kim Morrison (Brian), son Tod Dennis, (Julie), step sons David Dunlap and Michael Dunlap (Tess), nephew Robert Dennis (Caroline), and grandsons Mark McClendon, Michael McClendon, Delton Boxley, John Gatchalian and granddaughter Sheila Niekdan (Tien).