 "Photo:")
Retirement won't stop Dennis Maze from rocking out.
The superintendent of printing and duplicating is retiring after 32 years at the university, but Shannon Wimberly, a supervisor of the department said he foresees the avid guitar player as an old rock 'n' roller.
"That's how I see Dennis," said Wimberly. "He's just going to keep jamming."
Maze has worked at the university since 1975 in many areas of print and duplication, such as printing black and white flyers from a university press and helping prepare mass mailings.
The southern Illinois native said he didn't mind leaving hard labor behind when he became the superintendent of printing and duplicating, and said he definitely won't mind being able to set his own schedule and wake when he pleases during retirement.
"Just the fact of not having to get up and do something unless I want to is probably the best part of retirement," he said.
Maze, who lives in Cobden, said his printing career started in high school at the Union County Press newspaper. He did bindery work and made deliveries in the afternoons after class. Upon graduation in 1970, he began school at Shawnee Community College.
He also played in a band.
"My career goal at the time was to be a musician," he said. "Once I discovered that I wasn't really going to make a career out of that, I more or less quit."
Maze said he began playing guitar nearly 45 years ago when his parents gave him a choice between the guitar and the trombone. He chose the six-string, and said he has played in bands as recently as five years ago.
"Ever since I was little bitty I wanted to play guitar, for some reason," he said. "Nobody else that I knew played guitar."
The walls of Maze's office are adorned with calendars from various SIU sports teams. He said he is a huge Saluki fan and has season tickets to the men's basketball games, which he attends with his wife, Theresa.
Maze also has a humorous side.
He is a practical joker and often writes down quotes he hears his colleagues say and then brings it up years later, Wimberly said. Maze once overheard Wimberly brag about his vehicle's ability to conquer snow and ice, and brought the quote to Wimberly's attention when he called into work that the ice and snow had stopped him, Wimberly said.
Michelle Rositch, a graphic designer for printing and duplicating services, said she has known Maze for about 10 years. Maze is an easygoing person of few words, Rositch said.
When he does speak, she said he always has "one-line zingers."
Rositch also said Maze has performed music with colleagues during lunch breaks. She said they didn't necessarily play a concert, but they played loud enough that everyone could hear.
"They have a couple times brought their guitars in and jammed on their lunch hour - a fun, enjoyable, unexpected kind of a lunch hour," Rositch said.
Wimberly said Maze was more of a peer to his employees than a boss, but did expect work to get accomplished. He said Maze has been pleasant to work with and expects him to continue to play music.
"You're never too old to rock 'n' roll," he said. "That's encouraging to me."
ryan_rendleman@dailyegyptian.com 536-3311 ext. 268
