Duane Edwin Waddell

Duane was born February 9, 1919 to Edwin C. and Verna B. (Schoenfeld) Waddell in Beaver Dam, WI. After graduating from high school, and during the time he worked for Monarch Range Co., he met and, subsequently, married Dorothy M. Vining on June 23, 1938. He enlisted and served in World War II, assigned to the Steven Potter and participated in the raid on Japan. After the war he was offered a four-year Millwright Apprenticeship by Monarch Range and the U. S. Government. Being a journeyman Millwright served Duane well throughout his career, as he applied his innate, out-of-the-box thinking and creativity to his trade. When instructions and parts weren’t available, he simply created them; he even made outdated car parts for family members when they couldn’t be found. After he left Monarch Range, he worked for the Green Giant Canning Factory, the Ziegler Brewing Co., and part-time for Hasley Motors and Gearing Motors. Duane and Dorothy also owned Waddell’s Restaurant in Beaver Dam for five years before fulfilling Duane’s long-held desire to move to California, which he remembered so fondly from his war years. In those years and at 40 years of age, this was a risky move. He started with a temp agency and soon was a permanent employee and supervisor for Tubing Seal Cap, which later merged with Voishan Industries in Azusa, CA, requiring him to complete college management courses, which he enjoyed. He and Dorothy bought a 17 acre avocado ranch in 1971, which they owned for seven years, in Rainbow, CA. He worked his “day job” during the week and planted avocado trees on weekend. Five of his grandchildren were old enough to spend weekends with him, and regale stories of those “. . . weekends at the ranch w/Papa.” He planted over 500 trees, virtually by himself, before a thief ended his working days with a bullet through the sciatic nerve in his left leg on December 21, 1978. He’d finished work and was picking Dorothy up from Dell’s Hallmark, which they bought in 1977, when a young man needing money to support his drug habit tried to rob Dorothy. Duane became an avid gardener and continued to build Dorothy’s projects as he had over the years of their marriage; i.e., adding a closed-in patio, creating wrought iron fencing to surround their home and rental, and those many, many Christmas decorations and gifts. She had the ideas, he gave them life. In 1979, after selling Dell’s Hallmark and the ranch, they spent a year in Bandon, Oregon helping Dorothy’s brother and his wife establish their new restaurant. Throughout the years of his marriage Duane’s blessings were compounded with the births of his three daughters, eight grandchildren, ten great-grandchildren, and much-loved pets. To say, “He’s missed,” doesn’t begin to describe the loss experienced by his family early Sunday morning November 1, 2009, when he slipped away peacefully in his sleep. Duane is survived by his wife Dorothy of Duarte, his daughters Kay Birkholz of Lincoln CA, Bonnie Roberts of Quartz Hill CA, Vicki Adams of Monrovia CA, seven grandchildren, ten great-grandchildren, and his beloved Tinker. In lieu of flowers, the Family requests anyone choosing to contribute, do so to any of the fine Veteran’s Associations in Duane’s name.