Miriam's Project

Miriam needed something to keep her keys and phone in so she made herself a fanny pack!

Louis Clifford Duncan

Your great grandfather (or grandfather!) Louis Clifford Duncan was born October 4, 1913 in Centerville, Utah.  His father was Don Delmore Duncan and his mother was Anna Horspool.  His grandfather Homer Duncan and family came to Utah with the original pioneers who were driven out of Illinois.  Louis was the 5th of 9 children.  His family had a chicken farm.  He said when he left on his mission his father had 5,000 laying hens.  In 1935 he received his mission call to serve in the Mexican Mission (which encompassed all of Mexico, and Spanish speaking people in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and California.  He said in his life story he received two messages from his parents.  From his mother, "Go and be a good missionary.  If you can't live the mission rules you don't need to come home." 😃  His father was a little less harsh.  He said, "Always remember who you are."  He was a good missionary who followed rules and came back home to his mother in 1937.  In 1942 he was attending college and when World War II began he enclisted in the Army.  In 1944 he was a 2nd Lieutenant assigned to military intelligence where his first assignment was in the Phillipines.  He was to lead a group of 20 soldiers who were to raid a Japanese headquarter to see if they could find anything that would help them break the Japanese codes.  With what they found the code was broken.  He said that it greatly helped in clearing out the Japanese in the Phillipines   In 1946 he finished his military service and enrolled in the University of Utah.

Louis had started dating Gerlene Olive Ogzewalla before the war and when he game home they again began dating  The were married on January 2, 1946 in the Logan Temple.  They eventually moved to  Phoenix, Arizona where they remained until the time of their deaths.  They had four children.  Scott Louis, Kent Donn,  Rozanne, and Phillip Charles.  In 1948 he began to work for the Arizona State Land Department.  He worked there until his retirement in 1981,  After he retired they were temple workers in the Mesa Temple and then were called to serve a mission in Tampico, Mexico.  After they served a mission he went in to the Land Department to visit friends and they asked him to write a history for them of the Land Department.    On March 13, 1996 he passed away.  He was 82.  He had stomach cancer that eventually spread throughout his body.  

Your Grandpa Duncan was a very quiet, hard-working man.  Over the years he served in positions of  leadership in the church.  He, like his children was an avid reader, a wonderful gardener who grew every thing that would grow in the hot climate of Arizona.  The thing I remember most was his beautiful wall of sweet peas that grew up a trellis he built on the south side of their house.  They were all different colors and looked beautiful.  In his military record it said he was 5'8" tall with brown hair and blue eyes.  I never saw much hair since he was bald when I met him.  He generously shared his baldness with his three grandsons.  

Spring Concert

Last night I was able to attend Duncan's Spring Choir Concert.  This is not because I am prejudiced but his particular choir was the absolute best of all the performances. It was so fun to watch Duncan singing and doing a little dancing and looking pretty cool in his sunglasses for one of the numbers.

Happy Birthday Bruce!

 21 Years Old