Denis Crawford Parrington

Denis C. Parrington, “The D Man”,70, of New Windsor entered into rest Tuesday July 24th, 2018 at St. Lukes Hospital, Newburgh after a valiant struggle with cancer.

Denis was born to Crawford and Agnes Parrington in Queens, NY on August 13th, 1947, the second of three children.  He graduated from Sanford H. Calhoun High School, Merrick, NY in 1965.  President Johnson invited Denis to serve in the Army in 1966 where he served with distinction in the Signal Corp, being honorably discharged in 1968.  Back home in Merrick, Denis met Holly while working as a bank teller. On November 14th, 1970 they became husband and wife and moved to Ashland, NH to help Crawford and Agnes with their KOA Campground.  While in NH, Denis found work with the Ashland Citizen newspaper as a sports reporter. On June 2nd, 1972 they welcomed their first son Robert into their family.  The added responsibility inspired Denis to return to school.  He attended the NH Vocational Technical College at Laconia in the fire protection program, graduating in 1977 with honors. While there, he and Holly welcomed Michael into their family on January 9th, 1976.  Which seemed like a good idea at the time.

After a brief career in insurance loss prevention, Denis began a long career in code enforcement as the first career Fire Inspector in the Town of Newburgh from 1980 to 1985.  While in Newburgh he was a founding member of the Orange County Arson Task Force, investigator FI-3, serving from 1982-1997. In 1985, Denis moved to the NYS Department of State as a Senior Training Technician until 1987 when he joined the Town of Yorktown Building Department as an Assistant Building Inspector, retiring in 2008.  In addition, Denis served as a Fire Investigation Instructor at the Orange County Fire Training Center from 1993-1997.  He was a member of the board of directors of the Hudson Valley Code Enforcement Official Educational Conference from 1987 till his passing, acting as chairman for 20 years. In a final act of kindness Denis donated his corneas to a person in need. 

He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Holly, his son Robert and his fiancé Kristen Devore of Montgomery NY, his son Michael and his wife Andrea of Montgomery NY, six grandchildren, Sean, Ryan, Colin, Tayler, Dante, and Emerson.  One brother, Richard and his wife Candy of Avon by the Sea, NJ, and one sister, Patricia and her partner Jim Darling of  Florida, and numerous nieces and nephews. 

A memorial visitation will be held Tuesday, July 31, 2018, from 5-8pm, at Millspaugh Funeral Home, 22 Bank St., Walden, NY 12586.

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