Page 9 - July - September, 2018 CityLine

The Second Generation – Wally and Edith Denny
Everyone knows that the City of Litchfield Park was named after Paul Weeks Litchfield, President
and CEO of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. from 1926 to 1940. In addition, the library in Litchfield
Park was named after his wife, Florence Brinton Litchfield. But we are often asked the question at our
museum: “Did the Litchfields have any children?” Indeed, they did; two daughters, Katharine and Edith.

Edith was named after Paul Litchfield’s sister who passed away from tuberculosis when she was a
young woman. Her namesake–Edith (the Litchfield’s youngest daughter) — was filled with joie de
vivre. The museum has dozens of photos of her always reflecting a radiant smile back to the camera.
There are pictures of her dancing on the lawn, diving into the outdoor pool with great perfection,
at picnics, astride a horse, and waiting to board a blimp with her father. Edith learned to handle
the controls of a blimp at age 18. She met her future husband, A. Wallace Denny, while he was in
Akron, Ohio training to fly Goodyear blimps. They met on a blind date arranged through a family
friend, and, for Wally, it was love at first sight. Because they both loved to dance, they attended a dance in Cleveland on their first date;
and so their love story began. After dating for two years, they were married in 1930 when Edith was only 20 years old. The couple left
their wedding reception in a Goodyear blimp named the ‘Pilgrim.’ After Edith tossed her wedding bouquet from the blimp, the couple
began their married life with a flight around the city of Akron. Wally was a huge fan of aviation. He left the U.S. Steel Co. to join the
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. in 1930 as an aeronautical engineer. He later rose to become Vice President of Goodyear Tire & Rubber
Co. in Canada. Wally and Edith lived in Toronto for 40 years, and the couple had three children: Julia, Pamela, and Peter.
While Edith was raised in Akron, Ohio and attended Wellesley College, she retained a love for Arizona where her parents had a winter
home called Rancho La Loma. That love would dictate how the Dennys would spend their retirement years. After Florence Litchfield’s
death in 1972, the Litchfield Estate, Rancho La Loma, was passed on to their two daughters, Katharine and Edith. The two women
agreed that Edith would take over the property. By that time, Wally was retired; and, in 1978, the couple moved to the top of the hill
north of the Litchfield Park Historical Museum. They filled in the outdoor pool and expanded the Litchfield cottage into a comfortable
residence where they lived out their years, taking charge of a rather large group of peacocks, all of whom Edith named ‘George.’

Edith was a multi-talented individual. An accomplished painter, two portraits she painted (one of her father and one of her mother) hang
on either side of the fireplace in our museum. Another portrait she painted of her father hangs outside the entrance to Litchfield’s at The
Wigwam. She also was a published poet and a performing concert pianist. Although Edith had a fear of flying airplanes, she overcame
that fear in 1958 and learned to fly.
Edith and Wally (an accomplished pilot
himself) flew all over the world. The
museum has a framed map of the world
with their many flights commemorated
with colored lines and dates.
Edith and Wally were also noted
philanthropists in the Valley of the
Sun. They gave generously to the
Phoenix Symphony and the West
Valley Arts Council. They donated
land surrounding their hilltop to
Sun Health for the building of La
Loma Village, and, in 2007 (after
Edith’s death), Wally memorialized
her in a gift to the Arizona Community
Foundation, which grants funds for
Music Education through West Valley
community organizations.
After over 70 years of marriage, Edith
passed away in 2001 followed by Wally
in 2008 at the age of 101. In 2009 their
children donated the 20-acre hilltop
of the old Litchfield Estate to the City
of Litchfield Park for educational,
historical, and cultural purposes. Edith and Wally Denny seated on a bench outside of their Rancho La Loma home.

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