Dennis "Wally" Walikainen

Hancock
Dennis K. Walikainen, 68, a resident of Hancock, passed away Saturday, June 14, 2025, at UP Health Systems - Portage Hospital surrounded by his loving family, following an 11-year battle with cancer.
Dennis referred to himself as "the luckiest man on the face of the earth," borrowing the phrase from Lou Gehrig of his beloved Yankees.
With his parents, Paul and Esther, and siblings Gordie, Paul, and Diane, he was raised on Frisbee Street in northwest Detroit during its heyday: great Motown music, cars, and baseball. (Esther would later marry another great Finn, Stan Kuopus, after Paul passed away.)
His family moved to Hancock, where he would spend the rest of his life, surrounded by family and lifelong friends. A member of the HCH Class of 1974, he graduated from Northern Michigan University in 1978 with a bachelor's in English and soon after married the love of his life, Emily.
After working briefly at the Sault Ste Marie Evening News and the Daily Mining Gazette, Dennis began a thirty-plus-year career at Michigan Technological University, retiring in 2014. He also received master's and PhD degrees in Rhetoric and Technical Communication from Michigan Tech.
He and Emily enjoyed raising Laura and John and watching them succeed in their college and career journeys. More recently, he was a proud grandpa to Ann and Henri Rouleau, who filled his days with laughter.
If you knew Dennis, you knew what he loved and cared about. He unabashedly embraced and shared his interests and passions: Dennis made it cool to care. He deeply loved his family and friends. He loved words and he always seemed to have just the right ones (he even made up a few of his own). He was a gifted writer and speaker. Dennis loved music, especially the Rolling Stones, especially live concerts. He had a vast knowledge of literature, film, art, culture, history, politics, and sports. The proud son/grandson of copper miners, Dennis was a first-generation college graduate and had a life- long love of learning and education, including extensive research in his family genealogy. His smile and laugh were infectious, and he had an amazing sense of humor. Dennis had a deep commitment to Guts Frisbee, proudly playing for his parents' bar, on Paul's American Pie, in the golden days of Guts. He fostered the sport through its lean years to its resurgence, even establishing a permanent International Frisbee Hall of Fame. In 2022 he was inducted into this Hall of Fame. He was proceeded in death by his parents Paul and Esther Walikainen and step-father Stan Kuopus, brothers Gordon and Paul Walikainen, in-laws William and Kathleen Nicholls, and brother-in-law Steve Nicholls.
Dennis is survived by his wife Emily; daughter Laura (Mark) Rouleau; son John (Manon) Walikainen; grandchildren Ann and Henri Rouleau and his sister Diane (Dave) Wester; sisters-in-law Gail Walikainen, Patricia (James) Destrampe and Deborah (David) Dow, many loving nieces and nephews, including his nephew/doppelganger, Shaun Berry, many loving cousins, and many close life-long friends.
In the end, we were the lucky ones.
A prayer service for Dennis will be held 5:00 pm on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, at the Memorial Chapel Funeral & Cremation Service - Hancock Chapel. Friends may call on Wednesday from 3:00 pm until time of the prayer service at the funeral home. A private burial will be held at a later time in the Lakeview Cemetery of Calumet.
To view this obituary or to send condolences online to the family, please visit www.memorialchapel.net.
The Memorial Chapel Funeral & Cremation Service - Hancock Chapel is assisting the family with the arrangements.