Obituary for John Duncan
DUNCAN, John Edward
The family of John Edward Duncan are saddened to announce his passing on Saturday, October 22, 2022. He will be missed by his daughters Heather, Martha and Thelma (d. 2014), grandchildren Nickolas, Jessica, Jonathan, Erich and Thomas.
John was born September 25, 1936 in Damascus in Western Ontario and grew up in the Mount Forest and Guelph area. In the early 1960’s John started working at the Millbrook Jail where he met his future wife Doris, who worked in the secretarial pool and predeceased him in 2019. In July 1962 he started his career with the Peterborough Police Force, retiring after a rewarding 30-year career in August of 1992. John was part of the Identification Division for many years, working on improvements to footwear and fingerprint identification. He also served as President of the Identification Association of Ontario.
Many involved in the sports community will also remember John from his involvement with youth baseball and umpiring. He always encouraged young people to get involved in team sports because it was an opportunity for them to learn about self-respect and teamwork.
“Lefty” was an accomplished south paw pitcher having pitched Intercounty baseball in his early days and had a passionate love for the game. During ball season when he wasn’t working, he could be found at Riverside Park in East City either coaching, organizing a tournament or umpiring. John mentored many others to learn the fine art of being an umpire. Upon retiring he kept himself busy by starting Kawartha Driveaway, a snowbird driving service to Florida. He served for a term on City Council and was proud of accomplishments such as bringing a skateboard park to Peterborough and having a safety light installed at the top of Armour Hill. He also organized a long-running Old Timers Can-Am baseball tournament in Clearwater, Florida which saw teams from as far away as Newfoundland and Los Angeles participate.
In January 2020 John moved into Applewood Retirement Residence where he very quickly enchanted both staff and residents with his stories and jokes, organizing card tournaments and becoming President of the Resident Association. He was also part of the Thursday Gentlemen’s group where he would captivate his audience with stories of his more notorious crime cases when it was his turn to make a presentation to the group.
John’s family would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the staff of Applewood for their excellent care, the nursing staff for making sure he was looked after, the dining staff for meals that made the rest of his family jealous, the activity staff for keeping his body and mind active and interested and the maintenance staff for keeping everything in working order in his suite.
The family would also like to send a heartfelt thanks to his friend and former colleague, Gary Rabjohn, for his assistance in planning Dunc’s final game.
In lieu of flowers donations to the Youth Emergency Shelter (Y.E.S.) in John’s memory would be appreciated by the family.
There will be a Memorial Reception celebrating John’s life at Ashburnham Funeral Home, 840 Armour Road on Saturday, November 5th from 2:00 to 4:00pm. Snacks and refreshments will be provided. A private family internment at St. Marks Cemetery on Base Line has taken place.
The family of John Edward Duncan are saddened to announce his passing on Saturday, October 22, 2022. He will be missed by his daughters Heather, Martha and Thelma (d. 2014), grandchildren Nickolas, Jessica, Jonathan, Erich and Thomas.
John was born September 25, 1936 in Damascus in Western Ontario and grew up in the Mount Forest and Guelph area. In the early 1960’s John started working at the Millbrook Jail where he met his future wife Doris, who worked in the secretarial pool and predeceased him in 2019. In July 1962 he started his career with the Peterborough Police Force, retiring after a rewarding 30-year career in August of 1992. John was part of the Identification Division for many years, working on improvements to footwear and fingerprint identification. He also served as President of the Identification Association of Ontario.
Many involved in the sports community will also remember John from his involvement with youth baseball and umpiring. He always encouraged young people to get involved in team sports because it was an opportunity for them to learn about self-respect and teamwork.
“Lefty” was an accomplished south paw pitcher having pitched Intercounty baseball in his early days and had a passionate love for the game. During ball season when he wasn’t working, he could be found at Riverside Park in East City either coaching, organizing a tournament or umpiring. John mentored many others to learn the fine art of being an umpire. Upon retiring he kept himself busy by starting Kawartha Driveaway, a snowbird driving service to Florida. He served for a term on City Council and was proud of accomplishments such as bringing a skateboard park to Peterborough and having a safety light installed at the top of Armour Hill. He also organized a long-running Old Timers Can-Am baseball tournament in Clearwater, Florida which saw teams from as far away as Newfoundland and Los Angeles participate.
In January 2020 John moved into Applewood Retirement Residence where he very quickly enchanted both staff and residents with his stories and jokes, organizing card tournaments and becoming President of the Resident Association. He was also part of the Thursday Gentlemen’s group where he would captivate his audience with stories of his more notorious crime cases when it was his turn to make a presentation to the group.
John’s family would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the staff of Applewood for their excellent care, the nursing staff for making sure he was looked after, the dining staff for meals that made the rest of his family jealous, the activity staff for keeping his body and mind active and interested and the maintenance staff for keeping everything in working order in his suite.
The family would also like to send a heartfelt thanks to his friend and former colleague, Gary Rabjohn, for his assistance in planning Dunc’s final game.
In lieu of flowers donations to the Youth Emergency Shelter (Y.E.S.) in John’s memory would be appreciated by the family.
There will be a Memorial Reception celebrating John’s life at Ashburnham Funeral Home, 840 Armour Road on Saturday, November 5th from 2:00 to 4:00pm. Snacks and refreshments will be provided. A private family internment at St. Marks Cemetery on Base Line has taken place.