Their tree, a branch to others

Dennis was born in Judsonia, Arkansas, to homesteaders who had settled by covered wagon at their nascent plot, just as the pioneers before them. Farming from the time he could pick, he was raised on the morals of hard work, reaping what you sow, and the enduring lessons of the Great Depression. Drawn to the woods and to books, Dennis put himself through Harding College and graduated the University of Central Arkansas. He joined the United States Air Force and was commissioned an officer, just as the Cold War heated up.

Saide was born in Japan, to refugees of the Russian Revolution who had fled communism across two continents and way more Siberian winters. Growing up in a world of changing fortunes and strange lands of the Far East, she learned first hand the value of different cultures and of personal will. Caught in the clutches of history herself, Saide was schooled amid the carnage of World War II, in the most vital degree. Her family again became refugees carrying only the unbroken. Reaching as far west as Istanbul where her father died, in a new country she became the bread-winner at a young age with just the education she had to rely on.

From different sides of the world yet on a like path, Dennis and Saide met in Turkey. He a Captain, she an interpreter and accountant, duty realized love and they married a year later. After the Air Force, Dennis climbed as an executive at Aerojet and its parent Gencorp. They settled in Independence and White County, Arkansas, where the Ozarks and the Delta merge. It is their roots, their experiences, the outgrowth of fifty plus years of their partnership, joint investing, and shared charity that all come to form this Foundation…so that other humble beginnings can reach his and her own prosperity.