Durward Alton Duncan was born on this day in 1865. Happy birthday Granddad!

Jon and I took a trip into West Philadelphia today at lunch, so that my VW Jetta could take on some recycled sludge! For the next month I’ll be participating in the Philadelphia Fry-O-Diesel pilot fuel study - my car will be running, exclusively on mozzarella stick / calamari smelling B20 formulated by recycling and refining used Philadelphia restaurant trap grease. I’m not going to save the planet by driving around (smelling like french fries), but hopefully the study will lead to better ways of dealing with waste oil and lubricants. Down the road that may also lead to alternate fuels, and less dependence on foreign cartels.

John Alton Duncan passed away today. Uncle Jack was a great man - the kind of uncle that every little boy dreamed of having. He was an attorney (Queens Counsel), who later became a federal judge. He was a fireman / chief - who took us for firetruck rides in which ever engine we chose! He had a new car almost every time we saw him. He played with the most amazing model train set that you’ve ever seen. He flew model RC airplanes. Better yet, he flew his own Cessna planes - and took us flying with him. He owned a radio station. He was a phenomenal curler. He was a sportsman. He had a farm and let us believe that we were planting crops for him. He knew just about everything, or made you believe that he did anyways. He was argumentative - for fun. He loved nothing more then to get people fired up about some miscellaneous topic, and then leave them to argue about it. He was my mother’s big brother, the one we always had to check with when we made a big purchase or tried something new. He was my uncle and my kids’ great uncle. He was a wonderful man. I am so very happy that my children got to know him, I just wish that they could have known him as well as I did. We will all miss you tremendously Uncle Jack…