Kievit, Dennis

Private First Class

1679450

1957

1961

Dennis John Kievit lived in Mahwah for almost all of his life. As a kid, he lived on Campgaw Road. Sources suggest that he graduated Ramsey High School in 1955, as well as a prep school in New Hampton, NH in 1956. He planned to attend the University of Miami that fall, but then served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1957 to 1961. In these years Kievit transitioned around from Parris Island, SC, and then Camp Lejeune, NC, and finally to being part of the 7th Rifle Company of the reserves in Dover, NJ. He also described boot camp in his interview for Mahwah Memories as “Turmoil - running, yelling, fear!” Although he never had active combat, his best memory was being aboard a Landing Ship Dock (LSD). Kievit did progress through college in these years and finally graduated in 1963 from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, NJ. He received a B.S. in Business Management, and was also V.P. of the Advertising Club.

Soon Kievit was engaged to Rosemary Ann Alberse in 1964, another Ramsey graduate. At the time he worked for the national accounts department of Raybestos-Manhattan Inc. The couple got married on August 7, 1965 at the R.C. Church of the Nativity in Midland Park,NJ. They also planned a wedding trip to St. Thomas, and to live in Wyckoff, while Kievit was then working for Kievit Plumbing and Heating. By 1970 Kievit was again living again on Campgaw Road in Mahwah, now with his wife and also two daughters, Bretta Grace and Jaime.

Kievit found ways to be active politically in his community. He triumphed in a 1976 election to represent District 5 for the GOP county committee, as well as finding a position on Mahwah’s board of health in 1977.

Additionally Kievit made appearances in local productions and did part-time modeling. In 1961 he was in a fashion show at Fairleigh Dickinson’s annual dinner-dance. Later in 1984 he was part of a film being produced on a small budget called “The Possession of the Throne” in Totowa,NJ. Kievit was the “adventurous hero” in the film, the “handsome Jonathan Cole”. Another unique thing about Kievit is that he placed third in a race of 37 vehicles at a Pompton Valley night novice rally alongside Steve Schimpff, of Mahwah; they drove a Corvair.

It is good to finish Dennis Kievit’s story by recalling his passionate journey with the Marines. He went on to lead the Lakeland detachment, as a chaplain. In a moment to honor a fallen Marine, Kievit chose to mention this verse from the official hymn of the Marines:

“If the Army and Navy ever look on Heaven’s scenes, they will find the streets are guarded by United States Marines.”

Married Rosemary Ann Alberse; two daughters.

Dennis Kievit, in Lauren Paolillo, ed. Mahwah Military Memories (2017).