Delores Duncan

Delores Duncan, age 90, of Carroll passed away on Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at the Carroll Health Center Nursing Home in Carroll. Mass of the Christian Burial will be at 10:30 A.M. on Saturday, December 31, 2011 at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Carroll with Fr. Timothy Boeckleman as Celebrant. Visitation will be held at the church for one hour prior to the Mass. Music for the Mass will be by Holy Spirit Choir with Barb Mc Dermott as organist and John Wagner as soloist. Lector for the Mass will be Shawn Stewart. Gift bearers will be Jim Duncan, Dawn Mielke, and Tim Duncan; Eucharistic minister will be Don Nesseth. Casket bearers will be grandchildren: Jim Duncan, Shawn Stewart, Dawn Mielke, and Tim Duncan, and son-in-laws: Don Nesseth and Tim Jansen. Burial will be Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Carroll. A memorial fund has been established in Delores’ name and may be left at the church for New Hope Village. Delores Duncan was born January 20, 1921 on a farm near Dedham to Gertrude (Brauckman) and George Frank. She was the oldest of 11 children having 5 brothers and 5 sisters. She attended the Annunciation School in Coon Rapids and St. Angela Academy graduating in 1939 from Coon Rapids High School. After graduation she went to San Diego, California to work in the VA Hospital. She also worked for the US Government dissembling planes, one plane on display was a Japanese MIG, on the dash board there were mark’s showing how many other planes it had shot down. After retuning, she worked at the D & D Café in Coon Rapids. Then moving to Carroll in 1958 she worked from her home making doll clothes, selling african violets and making numerous different crafts which she sold up to the time of her move to Carroll Health Center in 2008. She also worked outside of her home at the Lees Department Store and then late in her life she worked at St. Anthony Hospital. She knew her husband, Merle Duncan, most of her life since they both attended the same school, but their love blossomed after she returned from California and they married April 29th 1946. They honeymooned in Okoboji. Her hobbies have always been crafts, gardening, flowers, quilting and antiquing. Her favorite activity was to shop at the New Hope Bargain Shoppe to see what treasures she could find. Her favorite childhood memory was learning about nature such as wildflowers and birds from her mother. She went on a cruise with her children for her 85th birthday to the Grand Cayman’s and Cozmel, Mexico. The most interesting thing that ever happened to her was the opportunity to meet so many celebrities while she worked at the VA Hospital. She met President Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor, The Marc’s Brothers, Joe Lewis, Mickey Rooney, Delores DelRio, Shirley Temple and her dance partner, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Roy Rogers and his horse Trigger. Delores is survived by two daughters: Janet Nesseth and her husband Don of Olive Branch, Mississippi, Jodie Jansen and her husband Tim of Carroll; three sons: Don Duncan and his wife Margaret of Southaven, Mississippi, Douglas Duncan and his wife Susie of Carroll, and David Duncan of Carroll (David and Delores had a very special bond and were always there for each other.); nine grandchildren; eleven great grandchildren; two sisters: Marge Golay of Carroll, and Rosemary Wever and her husband Ed of Panorama City, California; two brothers: Kenneth Frank of Carroll, and Wilson Frank and his wife Mary of Prescott Valley, Arizona; two sister-in-law’s: Geraldine Rafferty of Coon Rapids and Jean Williamson and husband Bill of Littleton, Colo.; and a brother-in-law Dwaine Duncan of Coon Rapids. Delores was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Merle in 1974, a son Dennis in infancy, a daughter Jeannine O’Connor, a grandson Jason O’Connor and three brothers: Jerome, George W. and Harold Frank; and three sisters: Clead Hubbell, Marion Hilgenberg, and Arlene Lumsden.