Mildred Nanette (Nancy) Durie Duncan

Mildred Nanette (Nancy) Durie Duncan, (96) passed away peacefully
on December 22, 2023 in Willow Park, Texas. Nancy was born on
November 17, 1927 in Waco, Texas. She was preceded in death by
her parents Roy and Edith (Kleypas) Durie, her husband, Glenn
Wallace Duncan and her sister, Mary Nell SoRelle. She leaves behind
three children: Glenn Duncan (Suzanne), Nanette Nadeau, Susan
Clemens (Bill); six grandchildren: Scott Duncan (Jennifer), Lindsey
Flowers (Brandon), Philip Duncan (Monica), Cameron Kelman (Chip),
Cole Thompson (Niki) and Brian Felker; fourteen great-grandchildren:
Tanner Ward, Elliana, Evan, Adelaide, and Alexis Duncan, Coy and
Charley Flowers, Jace, Juliette, Athan and Kai Duncan, Hadyn Felker
and Tagg and Troop Thompson.
As a child, Nancy survived the depression, a devastating home fire,
scarlet fever, diphtheria, whooping cough, red measles, and
appendicitis. All before the age of 12. As an adolescent, she became
a summer camp counselor for the Camp Fire Girls and barrel racer on
her beloved horse, Flax. She graduated high school from Sacred
Heart Academy at age 17, after only 11 years of education.
She was a rodeo queen, a Waco Longhorn Riding Club representative
at the Fort Worth Fat Stock Show and Rodeo, and was nominated as
homecoming queen at Baylor. She was a member of Delta Alpha Phi,
president of the Baylor Waco Club, president of the Boots ’n' Saddles
Club, and president of the Alpha Kappa Delta sociology club.
After graduating Baylor, she taught school, caught the chickenpox
from one of her students, married a Baylor football player,
honeymooned in Lampasas and moved to Fort Worth. There her
husband worked for A. Brandt Company, Inc. and they started a
family.
Soon they had three wonderful children. When her daughter came
down with the mumps, Nancy had a very close call with
meningoencephalitis. Even with a house full of kids, she still survived.
She attended the graduations and weddings of all of her kids and
grandkids, and countless baptisms, confirmations, sporting events
and other activities.
She volunteered in the school cafeteria, as a room mother, den
mother, helped with Brownies and Girl Scouts, was historian for the
St. Rita’s Catholic Church garden club, and a faithful attendee of the
Fort Worth Fat Stock Show & Rodeo since 1942.
She was a historian in her own right. Nancy was a member of the Troll
Hjem chapter of the Norwegian Society of Texas and even took a few
Norwegian lessons. She researched extensively her family genealogy
as well as her husband’s, and was a contributor to the Mayborn
Museum - Texas Collection - at Baylor in Waco. If you needed to
know an important place, date or other information, her family always
said, “just go ask Gram”.
She suffered with Celiac Sprue disease, without complaint, for over a
decade before receiving a diagnosis that probably saved her life at
the time.
She and her husband travelled together to the “old countries”,
Norway and Scotland. Later in life, they became “land and cattle
barons”, of sorts, at their ranch in Gorman. Together they made the
big move to Bluff Dale, and then two years after her husband died,
she moved to Willow Park.
Nancy was an avid Rangers fan and lived long enough to finally see
her beloved Rangers win the World Series. She was the undisputed
Reigning Queen as the 42 Champ, and was pretty good in straight
dominoes too. She won her last round of 42, defeating her grandson
and great-grandson only a few days before her rapid health decline.
She was her husband’s caretaker. He had been given three months to
live, but she kept him happily alive for another three years. They were
married for fifty-seven years.
Nancy was a life-long Catholic, received a Catholic education through
high school and raised her three kids in the church. She brought her
husband to the faith in his later years.
She was a devoted wife and mother, grandmother, and great  grandmother,
and through it all, she showed an overwhelmingly
selfless and sacrificial love for her family. Family always came first to
her. It was only fitting that she was surrounded by family at her
passing. They will miss her dearly.
The family wants to especially thank Grisel Sanchez, who was
Nancy’s friend and caretaker for the past 6 years, and neighbors
Kathy and Paul Kenney, who checked up on her daily. Thank you to
all the other friends and neighbors who touched her life. It meant the
world to her.
Mass of Christian Burial will be held Wednesday, January 3, 2024, at 11:00am at
Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Aledo, Texas. The family will
receive friends at 10:00am, before the ceremony. Burial will be at 2:30
pm at the DFW National Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations in Nancy’s name to:
The Sisters of St. Mary of Namur
909 W. Shaw St.
Fort Worth, TX. 76110
817-923-8393
www.ssmnwestern.org