Dennis Timothy Callanan, Jr., age 87, of Wilmington, NC passed away on Sunday, August 21, 2022 at Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, NC.

He was born on July 7, 1935 in Elizabeth, NJ to the late Dennis Timothy Callanan, Sr. and Anne Boyle Callanan.

First he was a son. And then a brother. He grew up to become a friend, a fiancé, and eventually a husband. After a few more years, he became an uncle, a father; and even later, a grandfather. He cherished all of those roles.

He wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth and thus had to find gainful employment. After a short stint at The Stevens Institute of Technology (Hoboken, NJ) he started along his career path, mainly in manufacturing, and mostly as a machine engineer.  He had jobs such as creating plastic bottle blow molds (Monsanto), machine design (Winona Van Norman), vacuum insulated bottles (Thermos), computers (Coleco), and the automotive industry.  In his final pre-retirement job, he worked for Loctite in Newington, CT for many years, specializing in creating custom designed machines to apply adhesives for automobile manufacturers.

He loved to ski, taking many family trips north, and west.  There probably wasn't a New England ski area that he and his family didn't visit in the 1960s and 1970s.

He loved special occasions, both for the celebrations and the traditional foods, and also for the opportunity to dress up in his Sunday best, even when it wasn't Sunday.

He was certainly handy around the house. If we broke it, he could fix it: walls, windows, doors, electrical outlets, furniture, painting, and wallpaper. We broke and damaged a lot around the house. Like the classic conundrum of the chicken and the egg- which came first: us breaking things, or his skills at fixing things? He prided himself on living in a home with a beautiful lawn and landscaping, spending many hours each week mowing and edging and fertilizing and weeding and pruning to make sure that everything was looking top notch.

In was in retirement when he found one of his late-onset passions, cooking! (Prior to that, reheating a lukewarm mug of coffee in the microwave was beyond his skill set). He enjoyed perusing cooking magazines and cookbooks, and creating meals with exotic ingredients and also preparing traditional fare, with a flair.

Born with artistic genes, he enjoyed putting brush to canvas, painting still lifes to capture a scene, or sometimes he'd pop out a camera to capture an event or a beautiful nature setting.

Above all, Dennis was a character! He was always ready to share a laugh and a smile, even if sometimes impishly so.

In the end, he had a life well lived and his heart was full. With a full heart, it was his time to depart this earth and travel on to greener pastures, where he's in charge of the landscaping, meal planning, and daily still life sessions in the studio.

Dennis is survived by his wife, Frances Roberta Burns Callanan; daughters, Amy Callanan of Ledyard, CT and Darlene Diaz (Omar) of St. Petersburg, FL; brother, Michael Callanan (Rachael) of South Plainfield, NJ; sister, Dianne Thompson of Clark, NJ; grandchildren, Alexander Diaz, Nicholas Diaz, and Zoe Diaz of St. Petersburg, FL; two nieces; two nephews; and many other family and friends.

A memorial service will be held at a future date. Details forthcoming.

Shared memories and condolences may be sent to the family by selecting Tribute Wall above.

Quinn McGowen Funeral Home – Wilmington

910-794-7171