Harry H. Dukes, Jr.

I was recently doing some work in his old office in his garage, and couldn't help but notice a framed newspaper article on the wall.  It was printed around 1987, not long before Mr. Dukes died.  The article spoke about his individuality and his life long effort to be part of and to contribute to his community.  Indeed, he had a colorful life.

The Dukes family has a long history in Millville, DE.  In the article, he told the story of working for his father in his general store, where he claimed that from the locals, "I learned to swear for 5 minutes straight without repeating the same cuss word."  It was a comment I could picture him saying.  He always had a funny quip.  (See other historical information about Millville.)

But the overwhelming thing I came away with from reading the article was the regret of not having gotten to know Mr. Dukes better.  I see now he had a great wealth of knowledge and experience from which I could have benefited.  But during the time I knew him, I was too busy being a youth to take advantage of it.

I suspect that as a general rule, I greatly undervalued relationships with my elders while I was growing up.  I probably tried to learn from them what I needed to know at the moment, but rarely just let them shower their experience on me as a matter of routine.  Generally, most elders don't just do that unless invited, and I wasn't one to extend the invitation.

This is one of those lessons I would like to teach my children.  But it is likely they may follow in my footsteps, and take years to learn it.  Well, there's always hope.