Classmate Interview
Dennis Wallace - A Lifetime of Service
Interview by Judith Campanaro
January 30, 2010
Some people are just meant to make a difference and Dennis Wallace is one of those souls. His journey over the past forty five years has definitely been one of service. Presently CEO of Habitat for Humanity in Bakersfield Dennis says his life has been blessed. Most likely his blessings come because of what he has given to others.
After graduation Dennis attended Ventura College for a year. His dad, an independent trucker and furniture mover, was going through some financial problems so Dennis went to work for him. Not only was it an unforgettable experience, Dennis says “I got to see all the States and a lot of things I never would have seen through the windshield of a truck.”
At the end of 1966 Dennis went in the army and was stationed in Germany. But being a California boy, Germany was too cold for Dennis. After three months he volunteered for Vietnam where he served the rest of his tour in combat. When he came home from Vietnam Dennis married his sweetheart and went back to Ventura College to study engineering with the intent of becoming a civil engineer. But just as John Lennon says “life is what happens while you’re making other plans.” A few years later, things changed for Dennis. 1973 brought some rough challenges. His mom died and his marriage ended. To work through the grief Dennis took a year off, tended bar to pay the bills, drank and played pool.
Dennis gives credit for his pool playing expertise to John Martin, the Director of the Boyd Club in Ojai. As a youth he spent a lot of time at the Boyd Club and John was a real mentor to him. Dennis learned to play pool and basketball at the Club. Not only did his pool playing help him earn extra money when he tended bar while he took his year off but Dennis later used the basketball skills to coach youth basketball for ten years. He was on the Board of Directors of the Ventura Youth Basketball Association and says it was the best time he ever had with his kids.
One of the things Dennis remembers most about Ojai was driving at night and smelling the orange blossoms. Today he cruises in his 1964 Ranchero and his 1951 MG Roadster. Dennis said “I’ve heard people say that when you get behind the wheel of your hotrod you look through the windshield with 17 year old eyes. It’s true. When I get behind the wheel of my “toys” I’m young again. It’s like where I was when I was cruising Ojai Avenue.” And his favorite memory of Nordhoff was Mrs. Llewellyn’s class. Dennis says Mrs. Llewellyn really instilled in him the love of Steinbeck and some other American classic authors.
In 1975 it was back to Ventura College. This time Dennis changed his major to social services and made up his mind to serve humanity. It turned out to be a great year and set the course for the rest of his life. Dennis met Connie, a nursing student. They got married and when Connie finished nursing school they moved to San Francisco. Dennis continued his education and got a degree in Human Relations and Organizational Behavior. An internship brought the couple back to Ventura where Dennis worked with the City of Ventura Planning Department. This led to a job with a HUD Farmworkers Group which helps to improve the housing and communities of migrant/farmworkers and people living in colonias.
After seven years with the Farmworkers, Dennis accepted an offer to go to Belize to work for a non profit corporation called CHF (Cooperative Housing Foundation). While there he set up a long term mortgage finance system where the people of Belize could get a fifteen year loan to build a house and pay it off like we do in the US for a regular, long term, mortgage. The system Dennis created, previously non-existent in Belize changed many lives for the better and helped dreams come true.
Dennis stayed in Belize for four years. While he was there his in-laws joined him. Together they bought a little dive resort on one of the islands. As well as helping the nationals to buy their own homes, Dennis worked with a group of El Salvadoran refugees in a place called Valley of Peace. The refugees were cutting trees from the rain forest. Dennis worked with them to establish a local sawmill so they could use the trees to build houses.
When they left Belize in 1988, Dennis and Connie got jobs in Sacramento, but stopped in Bakersfield to visit Connie’s boys who were attending college there. Connie didn’t want to leave the boys so they stayed in Bakersfield and have been there now for twenty two years. Dennis worked as a mortgage banker for a couple of years and then for the housing authority where he helped sell houses to low income clients which helped them get off the public dole. The housing authority job led him to Habitat for Humanity. Habitat is in 100 countries and over 2000 municipalities in the United States. A house is finished somewhere in the world every twenty-one minutes. About 600 people are going to bed tonight with a roof over their heads that didn’t have one last night.
When asked what he felt was his greatest accomplishment over the years Dennis replied “I’m lucky I found my place in life. My whole life I really have been able to make a difference. The work I did in Belize was probably the most important. I’ve provided housing for thousands of people. I’ve had a blessed life and have had the opportunity to help others. I don’t think there’s anything in my life I ever wanted to do that I haven’t done. I’ve been really lucky.”
