To Denise Small’s friends and family, she was a positive force, a loyal friend, a hard worker dedicated to her goals, an amazing sister, daughter, partner, and friend, someone who never gave up, whose “lists contained lists,” and whose legendary catchphrases included “Make it happen for yourself!” and “Everybody’s a winner!” “Work with what you got!” “Spin it up!”
To all of them, Denise Small is enormously missed.
Before Denise left this world on May 29, 2025, she spent every moment of it living her life to the fullest.
Born in Tukwila, Denise went to school in the Highline School District at McMicken Heights Elementary,
Chinook Junior High, and Tyee High School, where she graduated in 1985.
Denise dove straight into the business world, earning a degree at ITT Peterson and eventually joining the Minolta company in Seattle, where her top sales earned her a spot in the President’s Club for five years in a row.
At Minolta, Denise met Jill Keeton, who remembers, “Denise was in a role that was foreign to me—a member of the diva club that I admired from afar. But we clicked.” What followed were 26 years of “friendship that was unwavering. Nothing was off the table in discussion. Trust. Kindness. Laughs. Tears. Frustrations. Worry.” Denise and Jill traveled together, enjoyed meals everywhere “from crazy Denny’s to the sophisticated Top of the Mark,” and on many adventures, Denise would remind Jill with one of her famous catchphrases, “We got this!”
Denise’s love for travel was legendary; she shared in recent years that she didn’t need to make a bucket list because she’d already visited so many places across the Pacific Northwest and the world. Jill remembers trips to Rome, Paris, Hawaii, Cabo San Lucas, San Francisco, and LA, as well as “Spa days. Band days. A TMZ bus trip and seeing Leonardo di Caprio’s house. No whys needed — it was all fun.”
A favorite trip of longtime friend Chris Assau was to Chile, where his father, a concert pianist, was being honored with a museum. “Denise got on Chile TV on a late-night TV show discussing classical music,” he recounts. “It was an unprepared cameo!”
Denise was known for hitting “any spa, anywhere, anytime,” says her partner Randy. “Denise loved it all. In recent years, she loved our annual trip to the Sol Duc hot springs in Olympic National Park.”
Randy first met Denise at Seattle nonprofit Northwest Center (NWC), where Denise worked for 21 years before retiring in 2024. Denise was devoted to her work at NWC, which provides services to children and adults with disabilities, making a huge impact on the organization’s marketing efforts and helping make NWC’s iconic Big Blue Truck a regional household name.
Denise progressed through roles as NWC’s Business Development Manager, Director of Marketing, Senior Director of Operations of The Big Blue Truck, and eventually Vice President. She was known for her marketing and operations know-how and her ability to plan and execute incisive strategy and complex, multi-channel campaigns while enlisting countless coworkers and myriad business and media contacts to ensure success. She led Northwest Center’s 50th anniversary marketing campaign including brainstorming creative strategy and securing major media sponsorships.
“Denise brought an open, creative, never-say-no attitude that made for an amazingly good time on any business development project that involved her,” Randy remembers. He loved Denise’s positive energy, a sentiment shared by many who knew her.
While Denise loved exploring the Pacific Northwest and surrounding states in her vintage Pleasure-Way camper van, you could also spot the camper on many summer days in scenic areas like Alki Beach. A longtime West Seattle resident, Denise adored West Seattle Summer Fest, where for several years she hosted a booth for The Big Blue Truck. She frequented neighborhood art walks, plant sales, outdoor movies, concerts, and nearly every restaurant, coffee shop, store, and nightspot the area had to offer. Denise participated in many West Seattle Community Garage Sale Days with her friend Chris, including the most recent sale on May 10, 2025. She also got the most out of what she called “deck life,” enjoying family, friends, and her beloved parakeets on her sunny front deck, perched on a hill with views of lush firs and the top half of Mt. Rainier.
Even when Denise was going through cycles of cancer tests and treatments, she remained a loyal and involved sister, daughter, and friend. She took trips to Montana to visit family, treated her dad to steak and lobster dinners and theater events prior to his death in 2018, and acted as a caregiver and advocate when her mother’s health began to decline. And she never seemed too tired to share one more story, stay for one more nightcap, enjoy one last number from the band, or try one more new thing: on her last New Year’s Eve, Denise tried a King Crab leg for the very first time.
“Denise will be remembered as the ginger she was, as a baller, as the person who spun it up [another famous catchphrase] and made it happen,” says her sister Jody Huber.
“She was my compass, taught me what was important in life,” says Chris.
And when Randy sums up what advice he thinks Denise would want everyone to take, he also sums up her remarkable spirit: “Do not hold back. Do what you dream of. Make it happen for yourself.”
Denise Small left this world surrounded by loved ones, of whom there were many. She will be greatly missed by her loving partner Randy Stockton, mother DeAn Small, brother Darrin Small, sister Jody (Greg) Huber, and nephews and niece Shawn, Dalya, and Ben. She was preceded in death by her father Richard Small. Her absence is keenly felt by countless friends including Jill, Natalie, Lydia, Chris, Laura and Nicole, her little birds, and legions of friends and colleagues across the Seattle region in the disability, marketing, media, nonprofit, and business communities.
A celebration of Denise’s life will be held in West Seattle on September 13th, 2025, at the Dakota Place Park Building from 12 to 4 pm, 4304 SW Dakota.
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