Thanks DavidR it went smooth, only took 5 minutes. I came back to repost some self-deprecating humor. I found some old photos from 8 years ago that showed the light-switch in question WAS a regular on/off when I moved in and I had taken it apart and snapped some photos. *I* was the one who replaced it to a dimmer to begin with! Now years down the road I had forgotten, then came back here to ask "hmm, I wonder if it's OK to put a switch BACK in". You know you're getting old when....

Wall switches/simple dimmers deal with one function only, the starting/stopping of nominal 120v ac electricity going to the fixture which contains the load. Only the load should have a neutral (white) line leaving it plus the switchable line from the switch entering it. So your old switch should have two wires connecting to it, one bringing in 120v power (black?) to the switch and the other (hopefully not white) when switch is "ON" sending power to the fixture. The dimmer you purchase will contain installation instructions to thoroughly cover all this without doubt. Here is a link that might be useful: Install dimmer

The fans that come with remotes do not have larger canopies, you just work to cram everything into the canopy. As long as all connecting wires are well wire nutted, You have nothing about which to be concerned.

Honeywell makes a remote control for a ceiling fan which has variable speed for the fan and dimming for the lights as well. In addition, it has a setting that will turn the lights off on a delay (so you have light while you leave the room) and another feature to randomize the lighting of the ceiling light so that anyone casing you hour home might be misled into thinking someone is home. The models that I've looked at are the honeywell 40013 (backlit touch screen remote) and 40012 (physical buttons) and the prices range from 29.95+ on the 40012 and 39.98 on the 40013 (@ Lowes, which is lower than at the Honeywellstore.com site). Here is a link that might be useful: Honeywell Ceiling Fan Remote with Lighting Dimmer