Robert Lawson Duckles, Ph.D.
En Español
1943 - 2024
With great love, we celebrate a life well lived. At 81 years of age, Bob Duckles died peacefully in his home on June 29th from complications with COPD. He is survived by his beloved wife of forty years Ana Patricia, his children Beth and Jonah, his grandchildren Ezra and Micah, his sisters Judy and Ann and in laws Nina, Jean, Pepe and Roy. His family and friends span the globe and he will be greatly missed.
He spent his childhood in Mexico where his parents Ed and Jean Duckles worked for the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) running service projects across Latin America. As a blue eyed, blond haired boy, he became fluent in Spanish by talking to farmers as they came in from the fields in the village his parents were running projects in. He was the oldest of four siblings, Ann, Judy and Rick.
Bob attended Scattergood Friends School in Iowa, a high school co-located with a farm outside of Iowa City. At Scattergood he learned to craft, cook and take care of himself and others by living in a Quaker community.
In his life, Bob’s beliefs and integrity led him to respond with deep conviction. He was a conscientious objector at age 18 and refused to sign his draft card earning him nearly a year in a minimum security prison. While there, he fought a forest fire, taught classes and talked with his fellow prisoners whom he often “agreed to disagree” with.
In his early career, he worked for Friends World College taking students on trips to Mexico where he met his first wife Margaret Molinari. They went to the Wright Institute in Berkeley, California where he received a PhD in psychology. For a time, they worked as house parents for war injured Vietnamese children and later for the Department of Commerce. They moved to Indiana to work for Cummins Engine Company.
His children Beth and Jonah were born and he adored them both. He was a loving father who taught his children both to cook and to use power tools. He was always up for pushing them on the swing, making and flying a kite or giving them a ride on his shoulders or motorcycle. He and Margaret parted ways but spent the rest of their life co-parenting. He dabbled in sailing small boats around Maryland and Indiana, owning an O’Day Day Sailer named Quixote that he sailed very occasionally but confidently.
He met the love of his life Ana Patricia Dominguez in Mexico, they married and moved to the US. Their life together was spent in Columbus Indiana, San Luis Potosi, El Paso, Texas and Phoenix, Arizona.
As a consultant, he worked for a wide variety of clients that kept him traveling all over the globe. From Japan to Brazil, Scotland to Mexico he often traveled for groups like the Kaizen Institute to do trainings and work on improving processes. He particularly enjoyed making connections between factory workers and managers and listening to the voices of those who weren’t always heard.
He was an avid observer of life and had a keen wit and a curious, inquisitive spirit. He loved nothing more than to figure out how a process worked. From watching how the factory workers put audio speakers together to talking to the nurses at a hospital about how they did their work, to making friends with the people and workers at his Physical Therapist office, Bob was always curious and engaged in life and the people around him. We could count on him to have a wry observation and a fun story from almost any setting.
He was a creative woodworker and a tinkerer and always had projects going around the house. Whenever there was a device or piece of furniture that didn’t quite meet his needs, Bob would fix it so it worked better for him. From a wooden rack to hold his ipad on the treadmill to the never ending alterations to the dining room table, or the ten different approaches to making shelves, he was forever making things to improve his home.
He was an avid reader and once he retired, Bob became a writer, editor and organizer of the Avondale Writers Group where he enjoyed sharing works in progress with his fellow writers for a critique group. He shared pieces from his memoir about his adventures crossing borders, his novel in progress and essays on topics like hope and social justice. He wholeheartedly supported his fellow writers with their work, encouraging and editing their writing.
He dearly loved his grandkids Micah and Ezra, visiting them in New Zealand in 2017 and enjoying video chats with them about sailing, hockey, cooking, dogs and whatever interested them.
He delighted in cooking and baking. His favorite dishes included pao de queijo, paella, empanadas, popovers, pancakes, biscuits and a very special sausage and wild rice stuffing during the holidays which depending on one’s opinion either was made with walnuts or pecans.
He shared his life with dogs and is survived by Maya. Among the dogs that he loved: Salsa, Tecale, Chico, Tino, Samantha, Luna, Charlie, Shadow and his beloved deaf rescue Daisy.
We will greatly miss his intelligence, curiosity, integrity, wit, sense of humor and his huge heart. We are grateful for the time we had with him. In lieu of flowers, donations to Doctors Without Borders or Hospice of the Valley in his name would be appreciated.
We will hold a virtual service with remarks from family and friends and time for folks to share their memories together on July 27, 2024 at 3pm Arizona Time. If you would like to attend please click here to sign up.
If you would like to share a written memory or regards in either English or Spanish, please send them to [email protected]. We will assume that we can share email messages on this website unless you indicate otherwise.