80th birthday - February 23, 2002

EULOGY

Given by David Duffus at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Greenville, North Carolina on April 22, 2002

But I’m not here to speak of my sorrow.

But I’m here to speak about the joy he instilled in my life –

The lives of my brothers and sisters

The lives of his wives – Nancy and Anne

And the lives of his grandchildren, the people he worked with, and his many friends.

My earliest memories of my father and mother go back to Lubbock, Texas.

My parents began developing our faith and trust in God and Jesus Christ.

And they provided us with many opportunities in life.

In the early 1950’s while stationed at Reese Air Force Base in Lubbock, we cruised the Southwest in our Buick Roadmaster with Dynaflow and hiked trails in the Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forest, and Pueblo, New Mexico and the Paladuro Canyon near Amarillo.

Travel was no barrier to my family for we were like gypsies, moving from place, with my father documenting our every move, our every trip, every birth of a new child, and every birthday with his camera.

We lived in Newport, Rhode Island at Fort Adams, after moving from Texas. Fort Adams is an old Civil War Fort sitting in Naragansett Bay. We took long walks around its perimeter with my mother pushing my brother Kevin in a stroller. My dad would take my sister, Charlene, and I fishing from Fort Adams piers. It was a joy for my dad to see my sister, Charlene, catch her first flounder even though her new fishing rod bent in half.

My father went to Korea that next year which was 1955. That was a difficult year for me in the fourth grade. I was wondered what my dad would be like when he returned home after not seeing him for a year.

We went to LaGuadia Airport to see him come in, he had gifts for all of us, two new cameras that he bought, and lots of color slides of Korea. He started throwing softball with me again, and I knew he hadn’t changed.

We moved to Alexandria, Virginia and on every Sunday afternoon, my parents had us at the Smithsonian, the Museum of Natural History or the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

We cruised all of the Civil War Battlefields, hiked the C & O Canal and the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was in 1957 that my parents started taking two week vacations in Williamsburg, when the pottery factory consisted of a chicken wire fence with shelves displaying blown glass. There were more photos of colonial buildings including one of my sister and I in stocks.

When we moved to K.I. Sawyer A.F.B. in Marquette, Michigan, in 1959, my world and his world expanded. During the frozen Upper Peninsula winters he created an ice skating rink in our backyard and we played hockey together. He took Kevin and I hunting on snowshoes looking for deer or snowshoe rabbits. We crossed frozen lakes and miles of territory.

On Armed Forces day, at the base, he would have us working concession stands on the Runway, filling cups with coke for thirsty tourists.

After Marquette, his next assignments took us of Kansas City, Alexandria again, and Hagerstown, Maryland. We did more hiking in the Cotoctin Mountains, did more hunting, traveled to Gettysburg and other battlefields. My dad always had his camera with him.

In 1963 my dad was transferred to the Air War College in Montgomery, Alabama. It was my senior year in high school and I thought I did a good job staying out as late as I could with the family car. My dad was always waiting up for me. His concern was not about what I was doing. I knew he loved me deeply and wanted to be satisfied that I was safe.

My parents were transferred to Taipei, Taiwan for two years and I began attending the University of Maryland. After they returned to the States and a two year assignment at Richards Gebaur AFB outside of Kansas City, their thoughts turned to retirement. They learned of Greenville, NC, telling me that a river ran through the town and there were two golf courses. Their goal was to start a real estate business. Little did they know that within three months after arriving in Greenville, my mother would experience a cerebral hemorrhage and die within 22 hours at the age of 47.

The world for me and my younger brothers and sisters was completely turned upside down. Diane and I moved to Greenville within two weeks and I took a job with Wachovia so that I could be close to my dad if he needed our help.

In 1975 he met a wonderful woman, Anne Stott, fell deeply in love and got married. We had a new brother, Liles, and a new sister, Sandy.

Anne and Jack formed their own real estate business.

1975 was the year I started practicing law in Greenville with Mack Howard and Charles Vincent. Mack and Charles made me an immediate partner, but with no salary. Anne and Jack came to my rescue and gave me their loan closings so that I could generate an income.

From 1975, Anne and Jack sent four more children to college, their real estate business grew, and they became leaders in the real estate community. Both of them served on community boards, the Chamber of Commerce, and led fund raising efforts. My dad loved Anne very much. She was equally dynamic and matched his commitment to their family, business and community.

So over the past week and half Anne and I were convinced that we had saved my dad’s life getting him to surgery when we did. We knew that he couldn’t die since they had so much to do together.

But Friday morning about 4 a.m. we lost him.

I have asked myself how can we reconcile his loss. You never expect to be without your parent and best friend, and after a death you are always trying to find a reason why.

But Jesus Christ proved to us through his life, death and resurrection that there is eternal life. Therefore, Jack Duffus is waiting for us, waiting to embrace us again with his love.