Bio of Denny Kartchner

Family: I married my high school sweetheart, Patty Saraceni, just a few months after returning from my mission. We had 7 children over the next 14 years. Nikki is our oldest and is now 22, married, and has our 4-month-old granddaughter. Andrew is our next. He is 21 and now serving in the Armenia, Yerevan mission. Rachel is our third. She is 19, married, and expecting our second grandchild in Nov. Heidi is our fourth. She is 17 and will be a senior in high school this year. Aaron is our fifth. He is 15 and will be a sophomore this year. Merilee is our sixth. She is 12 and will be a seventh grader. Adam is our last. He is almost 9 and going into third grade.

We have been extremely blessed in our family to have our first two daughters marry returned missionaries in the temple and our oldest son serve a mission as well. Our youngest son, Adam, was born 16 weeks premature and was only 1 lb. 7oz. We are blessed that he is also doing well. If we can just get the rest of them through the teenage years we will breath a sigh of relief.

Church: I am currently serving as the Young Men President in our ward. I very much enjoy this calling. It is especially fun to have my wife serving as the Young Women President. We are able to go to many activities together. Over the years I have served as a counselor to 4 bishops and twice served on the stake high council. I have also served as ward mission leader a couple of times. I also enjoy helping out in our ward nursery whenever I can.

Education: I graduated from BYU with a B.S. in Psychology in 1984. I went on to receive a Master's degree in Social Work from the University of Utah in 1989.

Work: I have worked my whole career in service to the elderly. For the first couple of years after school I was a geriatric mental health therapist. I enjoyed this, but couldn't make an adequate living doing it. So, I shifted my career to managing retirement and assisted living communities. I have been doing this for the past 12 years. I currently am the General Manager of a 202-unit retirement community in Vancouver, WA.

Hobbies: I still love sports, especially basketball. I am a huge BYU fan. The best thing that ever happened for those of us living outside Utah was dish network. I still play basketball whenever I can, especially with my son, Aaron. I love to bike, which I do to work a couple of days a week. I also enjoy hiking, backpacking, camping and traveling.

Comps: My companions in order were: Elder Jim Kenney in the MTC, Louis Lindsay, Daniel McGlaughlin, Larry Hartman, Roy Watson, Jim Gawrys, Ron Jacobson, Mark Hillstead, Jerry Matheny, Robert Fry, Terry Benton, Dave Brown, and Richard Vigil. Areas Served: I served in Pedregal and David, Panama, Siguatepeque and Comayaguela, Honduras, then in Carti Tupile, San Blas, Panama, and finally in Tibas, Costa Rica for my last 4 months.

Memories: The highlights of my mission were definitely opening Siguatepeque, Honduras, to missionary work and organizing a branch there. Since that time I have heard there is a building, 2 wards, and a district there. I have had recent contact with Jose Navarro who Jim Gawrys and I baptized there. He became the first local branch president, but has since become inactive. Another highlight for me was working in San Blas for 5 months. Too many stories to tell, but what an incredible experience. My mission experience definitely was a huge turning point. I am enjoying sharing my son's missionary experience with him. It is becoming a great bonding experience.