THE BULL
Memorable moments don’t happen often, whether it be a state championship, a unique game or event, or watching someone, or a team being honored for some sort of milestone. They just are far and few between, but this past Friday night, my family returned to our hometown of Shelton for what certainly was a memorable evening for my family.
Our father, Doug, who has been gone from us for nearly 32 years now, and who hasn’t lived in Shelton since 1989 when my parents sold the Shelton Clipper and Gibbon Reporter to current owner and publisher Steve Glenn, was honored by Shelton High School’s Hall of Fame committee as a “contributor” to the Shelton school district, and more specifically to the Shelton athletic Hall of Fame.
My sister Tonya and I were able to take in the ceremony at halftime of a Shelton basketball game, and the two to three hour visit to Bulldogland was highly memorable, a little bit emotional and chocked full of memories.
Tonya and I cruised around Shelton prior to the event, looking at the former houses we grew up in, the homes of great friends during our formative years and places in and around Shelton that triggered a lot of memories for Tonya and I.
I’ve been in Shelton many times over the past 16 years or so, either to visit with Steve Glenn, or cover a football game, or a wrestling meet, but for Tonya, it was her first visit to our hometown in perhaps 25-30 years, and I could tell it was seemingly a bit overwhelming for her at times Friday night.
Dad was what the HOF committee called “The Voice of the Bulldogs” for nearly 25 years, as he announced Shelton football games from at least 1965 until they moved to Papillion in 1989.
He served on the Shelton school board for 12 years, eight of which he served as the board president. He drove a school bus early in my parents lives in Shelton, and was one of many key people that spearheaded a new school, which is the current school in the late 1960s.
For me, the overwhelming part Friday night, and since we were told that he was inducted to the hall of fame late last year, is the fact that the Duncan clan had been absent from residence in Shelton for around 37 years. Many people in Shelton don’t even know who Doug Duncan was, but boy was I wrong!
As Tonya and I appeared in the school library Friday night, where they held a reception for my father and three other inductees to the HOF, the number of people that came into the library to greet Tonya and I, and have a conversation, was amazing.
Many of those that came in to congratulate us on behalf of dad were great friends, or classmates, or even friends of our parents. I even had a hard time placing names, and thankfully those that could tell by the look on my face, that look of “who are you,” offered their names, which in many cases led to a great and memorable conversation with so many.
Outside of Dad being honored, my personal highlight was meeting up with our “second family of sorts” as we were growing up, our former neighbors, the Ruyle family, and more specifically, the Ruyle matriarch, Lois.
Lois had just lost her husband, Don, shortly after Christmas; they had been married for more than 70 years. She attended the event to watch her great-grandkids play, but the chance to catch up with Lois and her children was priceless. Tonya, my baby sister Tara, and I had been unable to attend Don’s funeral due to illness.
It’s hard to “catch me off guard” very often, but as Tonya and I drove away from the ceremony later Friday night, it was a quiet drive, just soaking in so many wonderful memories for me while I was growing up in Shelton.
The honor dad received was wonderful, and it was truly memorable, even slightly emotional with such wonderful memories the Duncan Family had while living in Shelton for 25ish years.
As I approach the start of my 18th year in Clay County, I can only hope that what dad left for a legacy in Shelton could be a fourth of the legacy dad and mom left in Shelton (and Gibbon).
Thank you, Shelton, for the uplifting evening and most memorable feeling a person could have.
