Dennis C. McCreery (Brecksville, OH) After graduating from High School, he attended Kent State University and then graduated (first in my class – believe it or not) from the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science.

He returned to Brecksville and served an internship in embalming and funeral directing at the A. Nosek and Sons Funeral Home. After he passed the state boards and received his licenses in 1966, he returned to CCMS as Instructor of Restorative Art and Associate Instructor of Embalming He taught there from 1967-1969 and then returned to Brecksville.

He worked for the same funeral home where he served his internship, Nosek Funeral Home. He had dated Norayne Nosek for a few years after High School and when he returned, they realized those “old sparks” were still there and they were married in 1971.

They have been blessed with two wonderful sons Doug, a production design engineer in the pleasure boating industry now living in Florida and Scott, a licensed funeral director and embalmer, who has joined the family firm of Nosek-McCreery Funeral, Cremation & Green Services of Brecksville. They, in turn, have blessed then with two wonderful daughters-in-law, Heather and Katy. They now have a grandson, Brady (4 years old) and two granddaughters, Liana (2 years old) and Brindley (8 months).

Like most families, they had our share of pets. Hamsters (one which needed surgery for a cancerous growth $35.00),  two Rabbits (fortunately the dog got one before any babies came along), 5 Cats, 7 Dogs (one a great dane that had spinal cord surgery in excess of $1000.00), 100’s of Tropical Fish (that got ich and died), 2 Hermit Crabs (that died and it was weeks before Scott knew it, they are not very interesting to pets), a Goat (that hated him, he didn’t dare bend over in front of him), several Gold Fish in a backyard pond which the Heron ate, 2 Ducks that disappeared one night (all they found were the feet), 2 Horses (which meant they had to build a barn, clear a pasture and build a paddock) and too many to count animals which they rescued and nursed or tried to nurse back to health. He mentions all of this because, all in all, it was a good learning experience for their boys. They learned what it meant to have someone or (something) dependent on them. They learned to use tools and skills in building the barn, re-roofing the house, making a paddock, building a deck and clearing a pasture. They saw birth and they saw death.

Norayne, Dennis and the boys have been boaters since 1973. So most of our free time is spent boating on Lake Erie with old high school friends as well as new friends who enjoy boating as much as they do.

Norayne says that since he has cut back on his work hours, I’m retired. What she doesn’t say is that I’ve cut back to 5 days a week and 8 hours a day. He is looking forward to the day when he can finally sit back and do nothing but fish.