Dennis was my first boss, and set a standard that few have ever lived up to. My first day on the job at The Shack, I drove my first car to work for the first time after school and cut sharply running the passenger door of my 66 Ford along the drivers bumper of his 1970 TBird... so I go in and say umm, Mr. Thigpen, Sir, I hit your car... His eyes grew ever so wide and he said in this comic book character voice something about wellllll you been a bad bad employ-eee, so tell ya what we gunna do. We gunna send you into that walk-in cooler right there and you are going to have to {{redacted}} yourself this here {{redacted}} an then drink a chocolate milk and come tell me what ya think about all that. What a way to start ones work experience. Dennis always made me laugh, you couldn't help but laugh, and if you tried to help it, God help you. I often wonder why it seems the good, interesting folks move on while the mundane linger on forever. Maybe Dennis had done what he was here to do, maybe he was spared some ignoble end, I dunno. I do know he would not have us moping about and being all messed up. He would send us into the cooler, figuratively speaking, to adjust our state of mind. And pull some hilarious Zappa song off, or something like it, and make us laugh with him. I am just glad I knew him, and glad to have a chance to say a few words in honor of his passing on to better things. 8's and 3's to you my brother. George