Dennis McKeen Story

 Unretired

“Substitute teaching: where flexibility meets purpose and chaos meets growth.”

Many of the members of our staff spend much of their working years in the education field, starting in their early to mid twenties and continuing through retirement thirty to forty years later. Not all team members have followed this common path, however. Some have enjoyed a career in another field and retired, only to realize that they are not quite ready for what retirement has to offer. These individuals have signed on to work for Harper Creek, to stay busy, and add structure to their day.  Although their experience does not include educating children, the skills they have honed in their previous careers add value to what they can bring to our district. Harper Creek district sub, Dennis McKeen, spent much of his life working in the theater industry. An innocent comment from his five-year-old granddaughter made to him a few years after retiring had him searching for a job working in a school setting. 

Dennis was raised here in Battle Creek. “I was born in April of 1962 at Community Hospital in Battle Creek to David and Gloria McKeen,” Dennis noted. “I am the youngest of seven, with three brothers and three sisters.”  Dennis’ childhood years were in an era where spending time outside and being active was the norm. “I enjoyed playing all sports starting in elementary school,” Dennis explained.  “Baseball was my favorite. I was sure I was going to be a professional athlete. When I was in middle school, I went to football tryouts at Northwestern Middle School. I took a hard hit during these tryouts and decided that football wasn’t for me.”

Organized sports weren’t the only thing that kept Dennis busy as a child. “While not at school, we would play games outside with the neighborhood kids,” Dennis recalled. “My dad would flood the side yard every winter to make an ice rink for my siblings and our friends. Our yard was the neighborhood playground.”

The family unit was an important part of Dennis’ childhood. He reflected on this. “My mom stayed at home when I was growing up, and my dad worked as an electrician for Post,” Dennis recalled. “My brothers and sisters were in charge of watching me when we were outside, and when they grew tired of me, they would put me in an oak tree in our backyard. I was unable to climb down myself, but loved being in the tree.” 

Dennis was named after his uncle, who is a war hero. “My uncle was killed in action during World War II,” Dennis explained. “He was a paratrooper and went MIA on his first assignment when his plane went down, and he was assumed dead. Years later, it was revealed that he survived the plane crash. An ally jeep picked him up to take him to a hospital, but the Nazi’s hijacked the jeep, and he was thrown off to the side of the road because he was in such bad shape. He didn’t survive long after this.” 

Dennis started school in Kindergarten at Urbandale Elementary School, continuing with Battle Creek Public Schools at Northwestern Middle School, and then attending and graduating from Battle Creek Central High School. It was at this time that his focus for a future career began to switch from professional sports to another sector of the entertainment industry. “Much of my extra time was spent working in theater starting in high school,” said Dennis. “There was a girl that I liked who was in theater, so I decided to pursue theatre so that I could spend time with her. We eventually started dating.” Dennis has been involved in all aspects of theater, starting as a teenager and continuing through a long career, including acting, directing, and writing, with his first passion in performance going back to movement and physical activity as a young child. “I fell in love with dancing in high school,” Dennis explained. “I remember watching Fred Astaire movies as a teenager and being captivated with tap dancing. I acted, danced, and sang. I also choreographed while participating in high school theater. I became interested in every aspect of theater, including acting, set design, and props.”

Dennis invested much of his time working in theater while at Battle Creek Central. It became more than an extracurricular activity for him. He hoped that in the future he could earn a living as an adult in the industry. “After graduating from Battle Creek Central in 1980, I went to KCC to get my associate's degree in Theater Arts,” Dennis noted. “I became very involved in theater productions while attending KCC and also began directing.” 

Dennis finished up his associate's degree at KCC in the spring of 1982, then followed his girlfriend to Central Michigan University. Their relationship would end, causing a temporary glitch in Dennis’ pursuit of a career in theatre. “I enrolled at Central Michigan to work on my BA in theater,” Dennis said. “The girl that I had dated in high school also enrolled at Central. She eventually decided that she didn’t want to be with someone who was going to be an actor. I then decided to switch my major to elementary education in an attempt to salvage our relationship, but the two of us ended up parting ways.”

A career change to education didn’t last long for Dennis. He was presented with an unexpected job opportunity in the spring of 1983, and he decided to drop out of school. “I was offered a job as an actor for the musical The Chorus Line, at True Gist Theater,  a little theatre in Homer, Michigan,” Dennis explained. “The Chorus Line gig was a three-month commitment for True Gist’s summer season. I met my first wife, Cindy, who was also working on the Chorus Line, and we started dating.” Fortunately, a plan would evolve following the summer at True Gist.  “One of the directors at the True Gist Theater was also a teacher in the theater department at Western Michigan,” Dennis noted. “He convinced me to go back to school to get my BA in theater.” Dennis enrolled at Western that fall and was back on track. “As I got into my classes at Western, it felt like this was where I belonged,” said Dennis. “ I continued to hone my skills by participating in theater during my time as a student at Western. I finished up the spring of 1987 with my BA degree.”

Dennis and Cindy found employment as actors during the summer of 1987. “Cindy and I worked at Amish Acres, a theater in Northern Indiana, during the summer of 1987 for one season, approximately seven months,” Dennis explained. “We also got married that summer and then moved together to southern Florida to work at Naples Dinner Theatre, after finishing the show season at Amish Acres.” After a year and a half in Florida, Dennis and Cindy were ready to come back to Michigan. “We came back home in the summer of 1989 to work at Tibbits Theatre in Coldwater, for one summer,” Dennis recalled. “We also were working in a comedy group with some friends during our time at Tibbits.”

Dennis spent about two years at Tibbits and was also working in the comedy group. The comedy group eventually led to a more stable job. Dennis reflected on this. “My agent secured an audition for my comedy group with an organization looking to start up a comedy murder mystery show to go on tour around the country,” Dennis shared. “We got the job, and I was able to work as an actor, writer, and director. Our home base was Battle Creek. We named our company Top Hat Productions and performed at college venues throughout the country.” Top Hat Productions was in business for twelve years, performing in every state except Alaska. “At our peak, we had three different crews performing at one time," Dennis explained. “We had an agent who helped us book shows. Eventually, the whole murder mystery thing began to burn out, so it wasn’t lucrative for us to continue doing this.”

Top Hat Productions may have run its course, but Dennis had gained plenty of valuable experience building his resume, which allowed him to quickly find another job in the industry. “I ended up working at the dinner theater at Cornwell's Dinner Theater, acting, writing, and directing traditional plays and musicals,” Dennis said. “I worked there for twenty years, doing 187 different shows, 27 of which I wrote. We were shut down during the pandemic and eventually reopened, but by then, I was ready to scale back.” 

Dennis semi-retired after more than twenty-five years of pouring his soul into his passion for writing, acting, and directing. He has kept his hat in the ring on a part-time basis, spending a few summers working at the summer season at the Barn Theatre in Augusta, building and putting together sets for their shows. 

Dennis and Cindy have one child together, Kenneth, who was born in 1989. Dennis and Cindy divorced in  1992, and Cindy and Kenneth now live in Boston. Dennis remarried in 2000. “My wife Holly and I have one child together, Bailey, who was born in 1996,” Dennis noted. “I have one step-son, Greg, who was born in 1993. Greg and Bailey each have two children, giving Holly and me a total of four grandchildren. Holly became disabled in 2018. When Cornwell’s shut down during the pandemic a few years later, I decided it was time to retire from full-time theatre work so that I could have more free time to spend with Holly, which has enabled me to take care of her more consistently.”

Dennis and Holly were also business owners in Marshall for a few years. “We owned Marshall Carriage Company from 2017 to 2022,” explained Dennis, “offering horse-drawn carriage rides through downtown Marshall. These carriage rides consisted of a guided historical tour of Marshall, including ghost tours.” 

After retiring from the theater industry, Dennis didn’t intend to go back to work. A conversation with his granddaughter a few years ago set the wheels in motion for him to join our staff at Harper Creek. “In 2021, my granddaughter, who was in Kindergarten at the time, was talking about her school one day, " said Dennis. “She told me that I should be a substitute teacher. Our conversation got me thinking. I thought that this would be a flexible job, allowing me to work and also be able to take care of Holly.”

Dennis signed on to substitute teach not long after the conversation with his granddaughter in 2021.  He spent a few years taking job assignments at schools in and around Battle Creek. “I started substitute teaching in 2021 throughout the Battle Creek area,” Dennis recalled. “I began a long-term sub job at Harper Creek Middle School in 2023, and then became a district sub in 2024.” Since joining Harper Creek as a district sub, Dennis has spent most of his time at Wattles Park. He enjoyed working with middle school students and wasn’t quite sure of what his comfort level would be at the elementary level, but it has grown on him. He filled in for a few months to begin the 2024/25 school year, teaching Spanish. This fall, he has spent most of his time helping out in a Kindergarten classroom. 

Dennis reflected on the satisfaction that has come from substitute teaching. “I feel I have some history in teaching. My grandmother was a teacher. Also, my experience in directing shows is similar to teaching. I have enjoyed the day-to-day experience of being in a school. I enjoy watching children grow and learn. It is neat to see when a kid gets a concept after struggling to master it. I have been in Mrs. Shipley’s Kindergarten classroom this fall and have been happy with my comfort level in working with Kindergarten students. My grandkids and the kids I work with bring me a great deal of joy. I have been at Wattles Park primarily for the past two years and appreciate the sense of community and family.”

Dennis has a unique perspective, having spent a career acting, writing, and directing. Pursuing a career in this industry required a leap of faith from him, with long-term financial security not always being guaranteed. “I would encourage others to live the life you want to live,” Dennis shared. “Making lots of money is not always the most important thing. Enjoying your job is important.”

When Dennis originally signed up to substitute teach, he thought it might be nice to work a few days a week, but this plan has changed, and as a district substitute, he has committed to working full-time for our district. Our district subs provide an invaluable service every day. They have committed to subbing exclusively in our district, even when the need for substitute teachers is high for all schools in and around Battle Creek. They don’t know what they will do from day to day, but come in ready to help out wherever they are needed.