Dennis B. Kovac was born in Ladysmith and grew up in the Bruce and Blue Hills area. He graduated from Bruce High School in 1961 and later joined the U.S. Navy, retiring in 1987. After completing his graduate degree in 1989, he began his second career as a Navy civilian and Government contractor, working in St. Mary’s County in Southern Maryland where he lived for the next 30 years. He retired in 2012 and now lives in the Tampa Bay area of Florida.
During the years after leaving Bruce, he often returned to the area to visit family and friends and was always reminded of the time spent growing up there. Some of his fondest childhood memories include summers swimming in the Chippewa River and the various lakes in the area, as well as water skiing on Boot Lake. Winter memories include times spent ice skating and tobogganing on Round “turd” Lake and doing wheelies on the ice on Amacoy Lake.
Returning to the area over the years, he was reminded of the impact that growing up in a small town had made on his life, and he began thinking about ways that he might be able to “give back” to the community where he grew up. When he came across the Rusk County Community Foundation, he recognized that the foundation offered an avenue to provide a meaningful and long-lasting means of support that would help and encourage the young people within the local community.
