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Mary Bond Duncan
April 1924 - October 2012
Resident of Scotts Valley, California
Our adorable mother passed away in October 2012. A resident
of Scotts Valley since 1971, she spent her last times at lovely
Sunshine Villa in Santa Cruz, trading redwood trees for a
beautiful ocean view. Taken from us by pneumonia, she is
survived by son James in Scotts Valley; son William of Reno;
daughter Laurie; and son-in-law Pat Munson. Married for 39
years, Pat and Laurie have been long time Salt Lake City
residents. Mary was predeceased by her husband, James Richard
(“Dick”) Duncan in 1984, having been married for 38 years.
Dick Duncan worked for Levi Strauss&Co. and was their San Jose
plant manager for 28 years.
2012 Photo
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Mary was born to
Silas(1896-1930)
and
Ruth (Howard) Kitchens(1902-1924)
in Denver, CO. Silas was an
artist, which is
likely from where Mary got her own artistic talent. Sadly,
Ruth died at Mary's birth, and Silas followed 6 years later, a
tuberculosis victim. They are
buried at
Crown
Hill Cemetery in Denver. Initially rejected in the World War I draft,
Silas finally went on to serve in the European theater where he suffered
exposure to German chemical warfare. The resulting lung damage
made him vulnerable to disease. He died when Mary was six.
In 1930 Mary was adopted by Dr. Sterling and Maude
Bond in Little Rock, Arkansas. Dr. Bond was a prominent physician
of the day, and their means arguably softened the economic blows of the
Great Depression.
We didn't buy the expensive
looking Afghan Hound. My parents saw the dog running around loose
on the highway and stopped to see if they could catch her, which they
did on the side of the road. We put notice in the paper, but no
one claimed "Suzi" who adorably lived with us for 16 years. She
was not quite purebred and was healthy all her life - Jim
Image contributions from
friends and family
Laurie (Duncan) Munson
The "
Debutante" and marriage articles reflect
Southern US culture of the day (c. 1945-6) - Jim
It was the thing to get a nice beach tan, but it resulted in a lot of skin damage showing later - Jim
Jim Duncan
- grave site photos
Dick and Mary Duncan are buried at Oakwood Cemetery
on Paul Sweet Road near Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz, California.
You can locate the grave with the help of the pictures. Melinda M.
left a little yellow dog on the plate, and you can see that in the
Spring site photos as a location help - Jim
Friends
"First, please accept our condolences for your
mom’s passing. I always enjoyed your mom, her greetings, her sincerity.
Whenever I dropped by, she always remembered who I was, asked
about Fran’s artwork etc." -
Larry and Fran Kaplan
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"I will miss Mary - she is a beautiful soul." -
Virginia Brailsford
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"Mary was my best friend. You were lucky to
have such a wonderful mother. I will miss her forever." -
Frances Klisch
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"Mary was a delightful, loving friend. I will treasure all the
memories of years past." - Melinda M.
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"I just really enjoyed her spirit and personality.
What a great gal!" - Kathy Emmert
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"I still remember her bringing us a dinner when the
kids were born - so kind!" - Renae and Gary
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"I feel lost without Kitch!-we were the only survivors of our wonderful
group growing up in Little Rock
-we started our careers together in advertising art-shared the fun of
the debut years-weddings-chillun,
had never lost touch til now. I'll always think of her in the last
picture she sent-smiling in her lovely
garden on Blossom way. We all have to leave the merry-go-round sooner or
later alas.
A fun memory is of the days when we worked
together as beginning sketch and layout artists in
a cramped un-airconditioned advertising office which was part of the Gus
Blass department store. Mary
was so good at doing fur coats! How we suffered with the heat in "the
salt mines"-then at 5 o'clock
we had to transform into "young ladies" with a social agenda. We
cheerfully discussed planning a
"workers revolt' to try to get some air conditioning. Everything was fun
with Kitch!
Yes, beautiful inside and out. I try not to
think of her time in the "home" even tho
I know she always cheerfully took everything in stride. Being the same
age I well know how we get
used to giving up one thing then another...and perfect peace looks
better every day. It's not all bad.
We keep her in our hearts while we do our time that's left." -
Florence (Winky) Chesnutt
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