Citizen of the Year Dinner

Above, Gordon Kauffman, and his wife, Miriam, were second parents to Major Bobby Duncan after his parents died. -Photos Furnished

U.S. Air Force Major Bobby Duncan met “Gordy” Kauffman shortly after his father died, and the two men forged a father-son bond that only flyboys understand.
So close is their bond that Kauffman — a pilot who survived a plane crash in the Lingayem Gulf in the Philippines during World War II — pinned his own silver wings on Duncan’s chest upon the younger man’s graduation from pilot’s school.
That story, told by Duncan keynoting the Citizen of the Year dinner Thursday night, brought well-hidden emotions surging to the surface for both men.
Though his parents had died young, he said he had 15 people to celebrate with him at his graduation.
“Gordy came up to me, and said ‘Here’s my silver wings; take care of them for me,’” he recalled. “And Miriam was a second mother.”
He said he and Kauffman met through their church, Eddyville United Methodist.
“Why do we connect?” asked Kauffman later. “We are unique; we fly. We have a lot of the same concepts of life and values.”
Duncan — labeled a “true Lyon County success story — by Lyons Club President Allen Wilson, focused his remarks on the people here who influenced his life.
“He has just returned from a round-the-world mission,” Wilson said.
Duncan is a command plot with more than 4,700 hours flight time. He is assigned to the 54th Airlift Squadron as an instructor pilot and he flies the Boeing C-40C Clipper, which is based at Scott Air Force Base, near Belleville, Ill., 20 miles east of St. Louis.
His squadron’s primary mission is to conduct special airlift missions by transporting U.S. leaders around the globe.
“I’ve flown John McCain, and I’ve flown Jane Harmon,” he told more than a dozen former Citizens of the Year and the Lyons. “I provide for them (the leaders he transports). He added that his crew literally flies governmental dignitaries all over the world.”
Duncan, 42, grew up in Lyon County and graduated from Lyon County High School in 1985. He earned a bachelor of science degree in biology from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. in 1990.
He is the son of the late John and Linda Duncan and the grandson of the late P.W. and Alice Duncan, all of whom lived in Eddyville. He also is the grandson of the late Lawrence and Allie Mae Carter of Princeton.
Duncan is married to the former Belinda Dugger from Lawrenceburg, Tenn., and they live in O’Falon, Ill. with their two sons, Matthew and Jacob.
“I’ve been gone 24 years,” he said, adding that most of those in the crowd knew his parents including Eddyville Mayor Judi Stone who went to high school with his mother and presented Duncan with a key to the city.
“It was kind of emotional for me,” Stone said. It was one of the few times, if not the only time, an Eddyville mayor has presented a key to the new city.
Duncan credited the people in his life and the churches for having a “tremendous impact” on his life. “You can’t go to Chicago; you can’t go to Rock Island, and say, ‘I love you.’” he said.
He also referred to the truths he read in the late C.L. Baccus’ Herald Ledger column, “As I see it” as influencing him.
“I grew up behind Duncan’s Service station ... and my Dad was my best friend,” he said. “And I had some of the best teachers in the world. Through their belief in me, I believed in myself. They gave me all the tools I needed to go to the Air Force Academy. ... Our educators continue to care. What you (teachers) do with these kids — it reverberates. They had a huge impact on me.”