Dennis Lee Counts

Dennis Lee Counts of Granbury, Texas was born on 27 November 1961 in Florissant, St Louis County, Missouri. He was 60 years old at the time of his death on 2 December 2021.  Dennis is survived by his beautiful spouse, Stacy Ann (Pitcher) Counts,  and his wonderful children Eva Marie (Counts) Rhees and her husband Jesse Rhees, Conor Stanley Counts and his wife Annie (Broadbent) Counts, and his princess Chloé Anna (Counts) Abbott, her husband Collin Abbott, and his new grandson August Lee Abbott.  His parents are Donald Gene Counts (deceased) and Letha Diane (Schroeder) Counts.  Siblings are David Edmund Counts, Diane Marie (Counts) Williams and husband Steve Williams, Debbie Lynn (Counts) McCrady and husband Doug McCrady.

Dennis graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2000 with a Master of Aeronautical Science and from Central Missouri State University (now Central Missouri University) in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science in Electricity/Electronics Technology and from McCluer North High School in Florissant, Missouri, in 1980.

Dennis worked for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, Fort Worth, Texas since July 1985 where he received several awards including the 2001 LM AeroStar Award and 2001 LM NOVA Award – JSF X-35A Flight Test Team, 2007 LM AeroStar Award and 2007 LM NOVA Award – F-35 AA-1 Engineering Readiness Team, and participated in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm (1st Gulf War) in Bahrain as a civilian defense contractor (for General Dynamics which later became Lockheed) on the F-16.  Dennis was an F-16 Field Service Engineer for almost 14 years in many places around the world including Taegu City, Republic of Korea on Peace Bridge One with the Republic of Korea Air Force, Kunsan Air Base, ROK, with USAF (Blk 30 F-16), Hill AFB, Utah, with USAF (Blk 40 F-16) where he met his wife Stacy (Pitcher) Counts, Sheikh Isa Air Base Bahrain, with Royal Bahraini Air Force (Blk 40 F-16) as In-Country Program Lead and Principal Field Service Engineer and Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, with USAF (Blk 50 F-16 as Lead Avionics Technical Representative.  In 1998, he moved his family back to the states to work in Edwards Air Force Base, California, at the Lockheed Skunk Works as part of very small team of engineers on the X-35 Joint Strike Fighter Concept Demonstrator Aircraft (CDA) as Vehicle Management Systems Operations and Test Engineer until 2001.  After Lockheed won the “Battle of the X Planes,” he moved his family one more time to Granbury, Texas to work on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program, as Flight Control Systems Operations Engineer (2001 until present).

Dennis was born and raised Catholic, but converted to Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 2001 where he served in many callings, including many years in 5 different Bishoprics as 1^st and 2^nd Counselor, Executive Secretary and Assistant Ward Clerk, as well as serving on Fort Worth and Weatherford High Councils as a High Councilor.

Shortly after Dennis turned 40 he started having health issues that were eventually diagnosed as Late Onset Pompe Disease.  Pompe disease is a rare genetic disorder known as Glycogen Storage Disease type II.  The build-up of glycogen causes progressive muscle weakness throughout the body and affects various body tissues, particularly in the heart, skeletal muscles, and nervous system.  For Dennis, it mainly affected his diaphragm to breathe and trunk muscles to walk.  Dennis’ doctor got him on an enzyme replacement drug before it was approved, and he has been on it ever since. Dennis did not let Pompe’s control his life. He still worked full time and telecommuted during his weekly infusions.  Dennis was so very thankful and blessed that there was a treatment for his disease as this is not usually the case for Muscular Dystrophy diseases.

Dennis had a fantastic life and got to do so many things and see so many places around the world that he never thought were even possible.  Many would think that his career was his greatest achievement, but they would be wrong.  He said often that his greatest achievement was his family.  Dennis and Stacy were very blessed to have such great children.  Each one of them is a genuinely good person and graduated college because of the example set by their father.  Since Dennis was the first to graduate from college in his family, it was very important that his kids have that same opportunity.  His son, Conor, gave up two years of his college life to go serve a full-time mission in Long Beach, California and was later married in the Houston Temple to a very lovely young lady, Annie.  Conor also has a love for aviation and electronics.  He graduated a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University and picked up where his father left off by working at Lockheed on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Conor and Dennis worked on the same team at Lockheed for the past 4 years as well.  Eva graduated with a Bachelor of Art degree from The University of Texas at Arlington and now works for a software company and is married to a great guy who loves and adores her, Jesse.  Chloé graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and married a great guy, Collin Abbott in the Houston Temple.  Dennis’s first grandson, August Lee Abbott was born to Chloe and Collin on 24 August 2021, and Dennis felt so blessed to have the opportunity to be a Grandpa.  It is obvious his children will go on to do many great things in their lives.   His wife, Stacy, just gets better and better with age.  She not only raised 3 great children and supported her husband through his busy career and they travelled around the world, but she has gone onto do many great things as well.  From serving as Young Women’s president and several different presidencies in the church to developing her many talents in the business world, she continues to hit it out of the park.  One of her greatest talents that seems to run in her family is Cooking.  Over the years she has been a Chef for Weddings, Conferences and Dinners at several establishments, resorts, and restaurants, to her latest achievement as “The Baker” at Stumpy’s Sweet Shack serving up cupcakes, cookies, and other sweets.

It won’t come as a surprise to those that knew him that Dennis thought so far ahead of time to write this short accounting of his life. Some minor edits were made, but the vast majority is in his own words. Everyone he touched in life is blessed to have known him.

As another option to flowers, you can donate to the Acid Maltase Deficiency Association in Dennis’ name by donating via PayPal to https://amda-pompe.org/memorials-2/

Service: 11am, Friday, December, 10, 2021, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints 1226 Ross Ln, Granbury, TX 76048; Visitation: 9-11am, prior to the service.

The service will be Live Streamed. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86146930251?pwd=cytGRTV2endSTnI4MEh5WStpd3JTQT09#success

Meeting ID: 861 4693 0251

Passcode: 287706

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