Everyone's life has a story. In "Lives," we tell some of those stories about North Shore people who have died recently. "Lives" runs Mondays in The Salem News.

BEVERLY — You might say after reading this that Dennis Migneault died of an accumulation of misfortune. You might, he wouldn't.

Or you might think there are some things worse than death. You might, he wouldn't.

He had no time for self-pity, for railing at his afflictions or blaming them for all the things he couldn't do. He was too busy enjoying those he could.

His troubles, if that's what you want to call them, began when he had the first of two heart attacks in 1970, at age 27. Twenty-two years later, the congenital disease that caused them, arteriosclerosis, claimed first one, then the other of his legs. By then, however, they'd been put to better use than most.

Migneault died of complications following surgery, in the Kaplan Family Hospice House in Danvers, on June 9. He was 65.

He had a happy childhood in Nashua, N.H., and after graduating from high school got a job in the printing industry.

He met Susan Devlin at a dance in Tyngsboro in 1971, and one of them knew the hook was set.

"He pursued me for a couple of months, but I wouldn't date him," Susan said. "I finally gave in."

They married in 1972 and had their first child two years later. Dorothy-Denise was named for her father and for Susan's mother, whom Migneault adored.

Dee, as everyone calls her, was born with spina bifida and secondary hydrocephalus, grim diagnoses for parents to hear. It meant Dee would never walk without assistance, would eventually be confined to a wheelchair and would require many brain surgeries.

When she wasn't in the hospital, Migneault made sure Dee's childhood was as normal as possible. He took her sledding, swimming, fishing, flying kites, any place his legs could carry her.

"She never missed out on anything," Susan said.

When she was in the hospital, Migneault was always by her side or waiting for her to come out of the recovery room.

Perhaps most important, along with parental encouragement, came a life lesson.

"I learned how to never give up," Dee said. "Which is difficult, because some things I've had to give up, like walking, because I had no choice."

She attended Cotting School, a school for children with special needs in Lexington. Migneault put her on the plane for the class trip to Florida and on another flight to the Special Olympics in San Francisco.

"The two of them had a very special bond," Susan said.

It became even closer in 1992, when Migneault lost his legs, but not his determination.

Two of a kind

He and Susan divorced in 1979, after the birth of their son, Andrew. When Susan later moved from Lawrence to Beverly, Migneault got a place in Ryal Side to stay close to the kids.

"He loved kids, he always loved kids," Susan said. "That's why I married him, that's why my mother loved him."

At first, he got around in a manual wheelchair, making daily trips to the Dunkin' Donuts on Elliott Street, and to Stop & Shop and the White Hen Pantry.

Weather permitting, he wheeled himself to go to Dee's, near Briscoe School, and the two of them would head to Lynch Park or the Cummings Center. Later, Migneault got a motorized scooter, and he would race Dee in her electric wheelchair.

"It was faster than his scooter," Dee said with a grin.

Andrew was born the year the couple divorced, but Migneault taught the boy the sport he loved, baseball — he was a Yankees fan, but don't hold it against him — and was active in Little League.

He was also close with Andrew, who would have coffee with him every morning while they shot the breeze.

"I could tell him anything, he was like a buddy," Andrew said.

Dee wasn't the only child her father worried over.

Years ago, Andrew was riding his bike to help his dad out at work before he lost his legs and was struck by an automobile, ending up in intensive care for a month. More recently, he was on his motorcycle when he was hit head-on by a car. He was clinically dead at the scene before being revived.

Against all odds, Migneault also survived a bout with esophageal cancer a couple of years ago.

Susan and Dennis were planning to remarry this summer. She said his gifts to his children were his strength and determination, and how can you argue?

It's often the little things that leave the biggest holes in our lives when a loved one is gone, and Dee can't talk about the thing she misses most without tears.

"Going to Dunkin' Donuts," she said. "I still go, but it's not the same. There was a certain table we sat at, and I couldn't sit there at first.

"I sometimes look out the window and think I'm going to see him coming down the sidewalk."

Staff writer Steve Landwehr can be reached at 978-338-2660 or by e-mail at slandwehr@salemnews.com.