D. Duane Pearce

PORTLAND - D. Duane Pearce of Falmouth, Maine died peacefully Friday, January 31, 2014 at the Maine Medical Center. He was 89. Duane was born in Omaha, Nebraska on October 15, 1924, the son of Howard A. and Muriel M. Pearce. He spent his early childhood in Neola, Iowa. He had a brother, Howard. S. Pearce and a sister, Marilyn Church. His family moved to Portland in 1938, and he graduated from Deering High School in 1941 at age 16. When World War II broke out, Duane was too young to serve, so he started college at Portland Junior College. He enlisted in 1943. After basic training, he was assigned to the 410th Bomber Group initially based in Essex England. He flew in A-20 aircraft over France, Belgium and Germany as a tail gunner and bomb damage assessment photographer. His unit won the Distinguished Unit Citation for action over the Ardennes in January of 1944 and the Presidential Unit Citation for its support and bombing accuracy in support of Patton in the Battle of the Bulge. He returned to Maine after the war and enrolled at Boston University, graduating with a degree in business in 1947. While in Boston, he dated Mary Jean Little, then attending Tufts who he had known while at Deering. They were married after she graduated on September 10, 1949. Together, they provided a wonderful home and raised five children, David, Michael, Jonathan, Christopher and Elizabeth. After college, Duane worked for his father at Howard A. Pearce Associates, the general agency in Maine for Mutual of Omaha. He soon became the sales manager and later the General Agent and President of the agency. In his work, Duane claimed to have traveled every road of any significance in Maine. He knew all of the towns in the state and many people in most of them. Duane was very proud of his career with Mutual of Omaha and had a national reputation within the company, once serving as President of the general agents association. Duane, or the "Big D" as all his children and children's friends knew him, gave selflessly to his family, his family's friends and many others. He asked for little and gave to all. He loved playing golf. He and Mary Jean played together frequently and enjoyed golf vacations when they could get away. He also enjoyed playing golf with and teaching the game and its etiquette to his children and grandchildren. He will be remembered as a kind and decent man, a true gentleman and a genuine people person. He had affectionate nicknames for many. His children remember: "If you don't have anything good to say about a person, don't say anything at all." After he retired, Duane worked 18 years at the Point Sebago Golf Course, for a while alongside his high school buddy, Normie Cole, who spoke with Duane from Pittsburgh just last week. Duane has been the first tee starter at Point Sebago the last several years. The "job" was perfect; he loved meeting and talking with the players in every group. For years, players have approached the family and virtually uniformly said "We love your father." Although nearly immobile, he continued at Point Sebago through the last week of the golf season in November 2013. His stops on the way to the Point at Chute's Restaurant on 302 in Casco in the early morning for coffees and donuts for himself and other employees were a required ritual. Among other clubs and associations, Duane was a long time member of the Portland Country Club where he served on the Board and recently became an honorary member. He has been a proud member since 1968 of the Portland Rotary Club where he was a Paul Harris fellow and officer. Rotary, its four way test, and its members were very important to him. He and Mary Jean together served meals on wheels for many years. Duane was recently predeceased by his two dear sons, Jonathan and Christopher. He is survived by his beloved wife Mary Jean; two sons, David D. Pearce and his wife Leyla of Washington, D.C. and Athens, Greece, Michael J. Pearce and his wife Kathleen of Falmouth; his daughter, Elizabeth P. Hunt of Portland, and his daughter in law, Robyn (Jonathan) of New Gloucester; his grandchildren, Michael, Stephanie, Timothy, Jennifer (and husband, Rob Maloy), Joseph, Alexandra and Thomas and his great grandchildren, Matthew and David Maloy. Visitation will be held from 4 to 7 p.m., Thursday at Conroy-Tully Crawford Funeral Home, 172 State Street, Portland. Prayers will be recited 11:45 a.m.at the funeral home on Friday, followed by a joint Methodist and Catholic service at Holy Martyrs Church, Route 88, Falmouth Foreside. Burial will follow in the spring at Pine Grove Cemetery, Falmouth. Those desiring may make donations to: the First Tee of Maine at www.thefirstteemaine.org.Online condolences may be expressed below.