Memories of
GUSS RECTOR DUNCAN
1900- 1954
By Edith (Toots) Smith
daddy
I guess it was the day that my mother had married him and I very vaguely remember that my brother John was as happy as a little boy can be when he finally gets the "Daddy" he had wanted for so long. The next thing I remember is traveling from Rangely to Tooele, Utah in a car. It took quite along time getting the courage to call him Daddy and I remember blushing from head to toe when I did. I remember hearing him and Mom talking about it, how backfill I was around him. I think I was about 5 years old. Dad was very good to us and let us tag him around.
carved toys
I remember one time he carved a boom-a-rang out of wood and he showed us how it would come back when he throw it. The only thing wrong about that, my brother John ran to try to catch it and the darn thing slipped through his hands and cut his lip wide open. He had the scar there the rest of his life.
1928 tooele, ut
Some time before I turned 6 (1928) we moved into Tooele so I could go to school. We moved into a house with out furniture and full of bed bugs. Mom and Dad were up in the middle of the night getting rid of them so I could sleep. Dad was always kind to my brother and me, never scolded us, just friendly to us all the time.
on the move
We moved from one house to another about 13 times, I have no idea why. Grandpa Duncan and some of his family moved in too. They seemed to come and go all the while we were there.
rangeley, colorado
The depression came along and the smelter where Dad worked closed down. We piled all we had into a model T Ford and moved to Rangely, Colo. (Before we left Tooele, our family had increased by a little brother, Guss Rector Duncan Jr., and Dorothy Latricia Duncan. They were 2 very cute little kids and I got my first lessons of taking care of babies. We moved a couple times in Rangely and somewhere along the way Robert Guy Duncan was born. We moved up Douglas Creek on a homestead about that time (1934) or in that vicinity.
always working
The thing I remember about Dad at that time was he was very busy. He never stopped working. When we moved up Douglas, we had 5 or 6 milk cows. Some chickens and 2 horses with colt, no house of any kind. He built a lean too with small logs for Mom to use as a kitchen and cupboard. Then he some how got a large army tent to put up by it for us to sleep in, then he and grandpa Steele built a room for us to sleep in later on. After they had that built, a big kitchen, dinning room with a dirt floor. We thought we had a grand home to live in then.
hard worker
Dad was a hard worker, he plowed up a large piece of ground after he had the sage brush all cleaned off and we planted corn and potatoes and all the little things, so we would have vegetables. He built a bridge over Douglas Creek, as we wouldn't have to go around and saved a lot of miles. He put a wagon box on an old Model T we had came from Tooele in and the horses could pull it easier.
dance
We made several trips to Rangely to buy groceries and once in awhile, there would be a dance in the schoolhouse. Dad taught me how to dance. He loved to dance and there were always a lot of men and very few females to dance with so we learned early. Dad and then grandpa Steele taught me how.
don't remember
I do not remember a lot about Dad from then on he followed construction and the CCC.'s for work and the wages were so low there was not enough to go around. He moved us to Vernal, Utah where Eva was born and he was in California with the CCC.,s. Then he had a job at Maybell, Colo. And we followed him there after school was out. My brother John and I went from there to Steamboat Springs and he moved the rest of the family to Granby, Colo. and went to work on a bridge. He was a cement polisher then. From there, we moved to Tabernash, Colo. Where there was another bridge? He bought a little house for us and Daddy and Mommy had that home for many years, even when they moved to Denver. He dug a well and closed in a porch for us kids to sleep in and left for another job in Wyoming. I do not remember seeing him but a couple of times after that.
I guess it was the day that my mother had married him and I very vaguely remember that my brother John was as happy as a little boy can be when he finally gets the "Daddy" he had wanted for so long. The next thing I remember is traveling from Rangely to Tooele, Utah in a car. It took quite along time getting the courage to call him Daddy and I remember blushing from head to toe when I did. I remember hearing him and Mom talking about it, how backfill I was around him. I think I was about 5 years old. Dad was very good to us and let us tag him around.
carved toys
I remember one time he carved a boom-a-rang out of wood and he showed us how it would come back when he throw it. The only thing wrong about that, my brother John ran to try to catch it and the darn thing slipped through his hands and cut his lip wide open. He had the scar there the rest of his life.
1928 tooele, ut
Some time before I turned 6 (1928) we moved into Tooele so I could go to school. We moved into a house with out furniture and full of bed bugs. Mom and Dad were up in the middle of the night getting rid of them so I could sleep. Dad was always kind to my brother and me, never scolded us, just friendly to us all the time.
on the move
We moved from one house to another about 13 times, I have no idea why. Grandpa Duncan and some of his family moved in too. They seemed to come and go all the while we were there.
rangeley, colorado
The depression came along and the smelter where Dad worked closed down. We piled all we had into a model T Ford and moved to Rangely, Colo. (Before we left Tooele, our family had increased by a little brother, Guss Rector Duncan Jr., and Dorothy Latricia Duncan. They were 2 very cute little kids and I got my first lessons of taking care of babies. We moved a couple times in Rangely and somewhere along the way Robert Guy Duncan was born. We moved up Douglas Creek on a homestead about that time (1934) or in that vicinity.
always working
The thing I remember about Dad at that time was he was very busy. He never stopped working. When we moved up Douglas, we had 5 or 6 milk cows. Some chickens and 2 horses with colt, no house of any kind. He built a lean too with small logs for Mom to use as a kitchen and cupboard. Then he some how got a large army tent to put up by it for us to sleep in, then he and grandpa Steele built a room for us to sleep in later on. After they had that built, a big kitchen, dinning room with a dirt floor. We thought we had a grand home to live in then.
hard worker
Dad was a hard worker, he plowed up a large piece of ground after he had the sage brush all cleaned off and we planted corn and potatoes and all the little things, so we would have vegetables. He built a bridge over Douglas Creek, as we wouldn't have to go around and saved a lot of miles. He put a wagon box on an old Model T we had came from Tooele in and the horses could pull it easier.
dance
We made several trips to Rangely to buy groceries and once in awhile, there would be a dance in the schoolhouse. Dad taught me how to dance. He loved to dance and there were always a lot of men and very few females to dance with so we learned early. Dad and then grandpa Steele taught me how.
don't remember
I do not remember a lot about Dad from then on he followed construction and the CCC.'s for work and the wages were so low there was not enough to go around. He moved us to Vernal, Utah where Eva was born and he was in California with the CCC.,s. Then he had a job at Maybell, Colo. And we followed him there after school was out. My brother John and I went from there to Steamboat Springs and he moved the rest of the family to Granby, Colo. and went to work on a bridge. He was a cement polisher then. From there, we moved to Tabernash, Colo. Where there was another bridge? He bought a little house for us and Daddy and Mommy had that home for many years, even when they moved to Denver. He dug a well and closed in a porch for us kids to sleep in and left for another job in Wyoming. I do not remember seeing him but a couple of times after that.
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