When Dennis Elwin Anderson was born on 2 April 1934, in Rossland, British Columbia, Canada, his father, Carl John Emil Anderson, was 48 and his mother, Elsie Katherine Fredlund, was 33. He married Betty Jane Gill on 3 December 1955, in British Columbia, Canada. He died on 28 October 2005, in Langley, British Columbia, Canada, at the age of 71.