Morris Joseph Duncan Jr.'s Obituary
Morris J. Duncan Jr. passed on January 28, 2023.
It is hard to fathom a world without Morris Duncan in it. Many of our friends feel that he was as much a family member of yours as he was to his immediate family. The heavens are a wealthier place to have him up there with them. He will be greatly missed down here on Earth by so many of us.
Morris was born on September 26, 1940, to Morris Joseph Duncan and Audi Beasy Duncan in Sheridan, Arkansas just south of Little Rock. His Father was in the U.S. Navy, and, like many military kids, they traveled quite a bit of the world, especially during the years after World War Two.
He always said the year his family got stationed in Houston, Texas he immediately knew where he wanted to live when he grew up. On Christmas Day, he got to play on the beach in Galveston, and the water was warm. He would often comment that it was then he knew where he would call home.
He attended and graduated Austin High School in Houston. He later met the woman he would marry, Anngel Lynn Willis, while they were both art students at The University of Houston, she a painter and he a technical illustrator.
In the early 1960’s, Morris was drafted into the U.S. Army. The Vietnam conflict was in full bloom, and, in an amazing stoke of fortune, the military told him that they needed him as an illustrator for the armed forces here in the states.
During his time working for the U.S. Army, he was able to transfer to the U.S. Air Force at Ellington Air Force Base in Houston, Texas.
As the Apollo program was coming to a close, new opportunities in the Space Shuttle Orbiter program opened up at NASA. Morris rendered many of the important early technical drawings used in creating the Orbiter and the Shuttle system.
Over the corresponding years Morris would spend the bulk of his career as a Technical Illustrator & then as a Stowage Specialist with NASA, designing packages and containers for science experiments that would travel into space in low Earth orbit during Space Hab missions. He worked in the Space Program for Johnson Engineering and Lockheed Martin at the Johnson Space Center in Houston as well as other Centers in different cities over the years.
When he went to work for NASA he continued his relationship with the military joining the Texas National Guard with the 147th Fighter Interceptor Group. As Air Force Police, they were in charge of guarding the F-16 alert jets that protect the Texas Gulf Coast. Morris was passionate about serving his country and he ultimately was able to retire from the U.S. Air Force.
Morris had a great love of things that were mechanical and during his “semi-retirement” he worked close to home doing deliveries to area mechanic shops for O'Reilly's Auto Parts First Call. He got a great amount of joy interacting with the many car repair shops in the area.
In his passing, Morris is survived by: his wife, Anngel Lynn Duncan; his daughter, Michelle Angelique Duncan; his son, Clifton Morrisson Duncan; his granddaughter, Alexia Christine Duncan; and his niece, Victoria Willis.
What’s your fondest memory of Morris?
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