Turn music on or off
husband, father, brother, friend...by Sharon Warren
And heaven one more.
Since yesterday.
— Nathaniel Hawthorne
Duaine filled our world with warmth, love, kindness and gales of laughter. His sense of humor was legendary among family, friends and co-workers. As you can imagine, his passing leaves a huge hole in many hearts.
Things I will always remember (and that he would want to be remembered for):
How much Duaine loved his family and was a loyal friend to many. He so much appreciated how present and loving our son, Troy, his fiancé, Denise, and our grandchildren; Skye, Chelsea and Alexis were for him in the good times, as well as the challenges. He was so grateful to our friends who stuck with him through thick and thin. He appreciated that he and his brother, Ken, stayed close and joked that he was "his much, much older brother" even though they were only 18 mos. apart.
Duaine remarked there was a serious shortage of common sense in the world today and that is certainly something many would agree with.
How tenacious and dedicated Duaine was no matter what challenges he faced. That he lived to be 77 is a testament to his spirit and a strong will to live considering his life long health issues that developed in early childhood.
Duaine loved landscaping and working with his plants, flowers, and trees. He often talked to them. He was especially fond of roses; and being in nature anytime brought him peace and contentment.
When we moved to Arizona in 1989, he had time to draw and pursue artwork, especially watercolors. When he was painting in his studio, it was timeless and brought him great pleasure. In more recent years when we moved to Chandler, it was amazing how prolific he became as he expanded his repertoire and ventured into new arenas that stimulated his talent.
Duaine felt travel expanded us exponentially and appreciated exploring the many countries, cultures and sacred sites we experienced worldwide. Personal growth was important and vital to both of us, as a couple, in becoming more of who we are. He was always eager and supportive in co-creating life changing workshops and trips we facilitated. Duaine was such a huge supporter of my book and handled the accounts and all of the shipping, which was quite involved. I couldn't have done it without him. Duaine excelled in accounting and could have pursued it as a career. He would balance the books for big events to the last penny. Tom Kenyon and I used to joke we would simply round it off to the closest $100.00 and be done with it. Not Duaine-he was impeccable about accounting procedures.
Duaine loved music: Dixieland, Classical, Easy Listening, some Country Western, as well as the Big Band era. He especially enjoyed the Bill Moyers PBS broadcast last fall when Moyers sat down with Mark Johnson, the producer of a remarkable documentary about the simple but transformative power of music entitled:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10242008/profile2.html
The short version is now on You Tube. Duaine was deeply touched by the Moyers-Johnson program and songs, Stand By Me, sung worldwide in various languages, as well as One Love-One Heart. He recorded it on our DVR and would play them quite often. I know he would love for you to see and hear them too. (Just click on either song title above to be taken to the you-tube version.)
He owed some funny classics old time records for his ancient phonograph like Spike Jones "Leave The Dishes In the Sink, Lucille," "So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed" by Gene Autry, and the 1938 recording of "She Looks Like Helen Brown."
Some of you will remember those days!
One of his favorite songs was Because You Loved Me by Celine Dion, which Renee Morgan Brooks sung so beautifully at his Memorial on March 13th.
