Duncan Doane

The Doanes moved to La Canada in the late 1960s, and, Mary developed a second interest in La Canada’s Women’s Thursday Club, where she served as president. Greg went on to study at Columbia University, then taught high school math and later went to medical school and became a child psychiatrist; Donna went to Stanford and later Yale, and now lives in Thailand working as a researcher for NGOs. Penny specialized in chemistry and toxicology at UC Davis, then did research at Berkley, and now manages a research database corporation in North Carolina. Duncan has two sons-in-law and four grandchildren. Duncan and Mary enjoyed playing bridge with friends. They traveled in their available time, with vacations to the Canadian Rockies, Europe, Hawaii and Japan. Duncan built his own stereo sound systems from kits and components, and kept up an interest in communications, from walkie-talkies to Hamm Radio. They enjoyed hiking, backpacking, camping and road trips to Iowa, Colorado and Portland for relatives and work. He enjoyed inviting friends to drink gin, eat a good meal, play cards or talk about travel, philosophy or politics. Duncan maintained his interest in astronomy and his associations with JPL, and remains fascinated by space travel.

Among favorite old musicals is “South pacific.” And he especially liked the area of Kauai where this was filmed. Together, they traveled to his ancestral towns of Tarporley, England, and Beuly, Scotland. His wife Mary regrettably passed away in 2005, which clearly diminished his stamina in life.

Until recently, Duncan was continuing his studies in French Language at Glendale City College. But if you ask him if he speaks French, he will probably only tell you “mais oui!” At this point in his life, he still enjoys his gin, good food, conversation and female dance partners. Some things never change.

 Duncan will be greatly missed by everyone he came across.