Charles Douglas "Doug" Duke

It was an honor and my pleasure to be Doug’s son in law and friend. I enjoyed the times we spent together with our family and will never fill that void without him here with us. Although I didn’t know him until later in life, the 12 years or more that I did, he was always positive and had great advice for me and answered the questions I had for him without hesitation. He was funny and loved when Taylor made fun of me, always laughing with his deep voice and then would say, “oh man... I can’t believe you let her get away with that...”. I know he is where she got her sense of humor and it is a good one. I am still troubled by the fact that we were never able to get him back home after the hurricane in 2018 but when he was here, we would see him daily and grateful that I never took those moments for granted. He will always be in my heart and when I need advice about how to fix something or what to do, I will still ask him but look up to the sky when I do and I’m sure his answer will come to me one way or another and I will say thanks Doug. You were the worlds best father in law a guy could ask for, a good friend and just an all around wonderful man. “A man’s, man” is right... and we will see you again but not yet. Take care buddy. I’ll miss you for as long as I have thoughts. Build us a nice big home in heaven, with plenty of rooms and have the barbecue ready...

I remember going to take my driver test in my Uncle Dukes brand new Dodge Ram with a hemi (when the whole “does that thing have a hemi”) commercial was out. I felt like real hot stuff in that hot rod truck. He was also the first and only man to take me hunting my score to this day is 0-0. He was so very generous to me and I always have those memories. I love you uncle Doug.

Mr. Doug was a huge part of my childhood. I was best friends with his daughter and my parents weren't really around so naturally he took me under his wing as his own, (I would basically spend weeks over at their house without going home). I'll always remember waking up to the sausage biscuits from Hardy's that he would get for us, watching old movies and all the fun times at Panda China Buffet. Singing "lights" by Journey with Taylor in the back of his Dodge will always be one of my favorite moments however I'll never forget when I drove my first car over to his house when I turned 16, he gifted me with my first pair of jumper cables! He showed me how to check my oil and my tire pressure. He always wanted to make sure we were prepared for whatever life would throw at us. Not only was he warm hearted and kind, he was so understanding. It was easy to tell the truth around him. I will always remember everything he taught me and will value the memories with him in my childhood for the rest of my life!

I was very fortunate to know Mr. Doug for the majority of my life. Some of the best memories of my childhood were were him and Taylor. He will surely be missed and we were all very blessed to know him.