Lasting Memories
Lawrence (Larry) Charles Duncan
Dec. 14, 1943-Jan. 7, 2014
Palo Alto, California
Submitted by Faith Bell and Maralyn Riedel
The son of Marie and Charles Lawrence Duncan, Larry was born on December 14, 1943 in Berkeley, California, where his father worked at the Cyclotron at the Lawrence Radiation Labs. The family moved to several locations around the Bay Area during his childhood, settling in East Palo Alto in 1954. There he attended Ravenswood High School, forming close friendships with, among others, Ron McKernan, a future member of the Grateful Dead. Larry earned his GED, and as a dedicated autodidact, he pursued various interests in classes with the Midpeninsula Free University, as well as with a creative drop-in computer center in Menlo Park in the early days of personal computing. Always an avid reader, and a lover of bookstores, he amassed several libraries over his lifetime, with subjects ranging from eclectic architecture to fractals. At one point in the 1960?s he helped to build the Stanford Linear Accelerator. A gifted artist, he designed posters for the Be-Ins at El Camino Park, worked to bring music to Lytton Plaza, and helped create the Community Garden at the Drop-in Center. For many years Larry was unhoused, living in encampments in the oak groves of Stanford University. In time, this led to him becoming an articulate spokesman for the rights of those who struggle to get a roof over their heads. Always objecting to the term ?homeless?, he taught that those who are unhoused in Palo Alto are not homeless: Palo Alto is their home. In his role as community activist, he served with the Community Working Group, The Homelessness Task Force, Stanford Homelessness Action Coalition, and on boards of the Urban Ministry. His advocacy on behalf of his community helped to bring about the creation of the Opportunity Center. Larry?s warmth, kindness, and gentle humor won him friends from all walks of life, so a stroll down University Avenue with him (bearing his gnarled staff before) might include stopping and chatting with the Chief of Police, a street musician, a local shopkeeper, or a city-council member. Of late, at Lytton Gardens he enjoyed the company of the current events and poetry group members, the staff, and his neighbors. He sought patterns in the world around him, loving the shape of branches against the sky, brightly woven fabrics, twinkling lights, an eloquent turn of phrase, wind chimes, smooth pebbles, trade beads, mathematical constructions, and puzzles. He delighted in serendipity, synchronicity, and whimsical coincidences. Larry died on Jan. 7, 2014, following chronic health problems. He leaves his sister Maralyn Riedel (Hans) of Petaluma; his niece, Jennifer Riedel (Shawn Malikowski) and nephew, Eric Riedel (Selena), along with a host of devoted friends. He will be sorely missed.
Sept. 11, 2017
A Dozen your symptoms but also clues a new great enslaving matrimony are generally observable so that you outsiders, however when you are part way through it, looking at the case can be difficult. An hard to kick kinship is typically unbalanced. rather than 50/50 bust in enjoyment as liabilities, It is similar to 90/10. an individual is doing the actual time affording and the other finding. i know it can acquire confidence or diseases being a substance abuse, the assumption it will progress, denial, Compulsion and furthermore delusion. elements you will list for all your evealuation of your personal realtionship: 1. you consider your lover to meet you, nor 'make' users contented and therefore successful. If you are not down in a special connection, you might consider suffer from depression, feeling that misery reduces when preparing a new connection with another person. "some affectionate is preferable to not any, 3. when you're conscious that romantic relationship you have is bad for you, you've still got a hard time conclusion this item. you are going to feel helpless to stop dating one, even after being aware that you are in a detrimental needs. 4. people think you can shift the other person to attempt to fit your vision of an opponent. 5. You seeke information about each and every matrimony once you first finally breakup an unsuccessful one. this prevents you against truly being entirely. 6. When you feel about final point a attachment, see feel charmingdate firm worry about whether or not the other person being fine without having having your visit. 7. usually yout business relationships get started nearly as unrealistic and / or maybe thanks to very affordable probability of fulfillment, matchmaking a engaged to be married personality, as well as great distance romances, and / or maybe identifying emotionally inaccessible cold temperature regular people. 8. finally numerous when you finish an internet dating is now over, you decide on it haviving influence over your ideas. 9. that you're far more occupied with what amuses your spouse than what makes you happy, in the bed as well beyond your bedroom. 10. you were scared of being independent within your rapport, it doesn't matter what independent price range normal everyday, furthermore saying no thanks to your soulmate is extremely hard. 11. You have a problem believing you want a first-rate attachment. these sort of self a thought may bring about charmingdate maintaining actions, jealousy, and after that possessiveness. 12. there will be chronic ending it and winning your ex back, despite perceiving giving up it is the best option. This could be breaking up things down, at that time spirit heavy withdrawal manifestations, and then reestablishing every thing has become any more to finish these kinds of beliefs and feelings. in case that these types discomfort tend to be familiarised, would likely struggling an couples dependence. you will carry out to escape this approach treadmill, at the same time. your first acknowledgement need to be that you were 'hooked' into matters furthermore particular have to know just what hook varieties are. This allows you to decide whether every thing has become is going to be saving or may possibly lucky without one. individuals tag superficial or basic reasons for residing in an habit forming love affair. factors behind more likely to be 'doing this item for the children,or,-- unfortunately some other reasons occasionally includes documented liveable space, charmingdate review spending illnesses, Or bother the others will probably disapprove. down charmingdate review in the actual heart organ to the, The factors behind carrying on with in romantic relationship use thinking we find additionally internalized getting bigger. charmingdate review as an example you could possibly are saying " It will get better if activity the pup harder, I can never be personal, " i require human being with me at night you should definitely, " only be sure to take more advantageous as well as good care of her dad he will love for me, you get be property and also remain in times why most effective puts more intense. eliminating some sort of paralyzing union which you make recovering from it initial top priority. you will be aided while visiting a counselor on top of that teaching themselves to put yourself first. A assistance of best friends and family may be able to convenience your disruption out of charmingdate this kind of unfavorable experience.
Jan. 7, 2016
Larry is the cousin I never knew. Larry's father was my dad's brother. I was probably ten years of age when I last saw him. He was a stranger to me however, after reading the comments he sounds like a chip off the 'ol block - marching to the beat of a different drummer.
Aug. 11, 2015
Jan. 28, 2014
Larry's time and dedication on behalf of the homeless/un-housed is legendary. I knew Larry Duncan for many years and he will be missed.
Jan. 28, 2014
I only met Larry late in his life and talked a few times. His influence and importance in the movement for unhoused rights was clear. His lesson that "we are not homeless" influenced many people. He was a great leader and teacher for those interested in the cause of rights for the unhoused. We are all beneficiaries of his efforts.
Jan. 27, 2014
I used to know Larry when I lived in the Palo Alto Hotel and he lived in the Barker Hotel and later when he lived on the Stanford land. Later I moved farther away and lost track of him. I remember we used to have interesting conversations. I am sorry to hear he is dead. I just lit a candle to Jesus Christ for Larry at home.
Jan. 26, 2014
Larry Duncan was the sage of the streets of Palo Alto. He will leave a hole in the town that cannot be filled - not with asphalt nor with any other human being. May his memory last and his legacy of advocacy for justice long be emulated. When I was the executive director of the Urban Ministry, Larry became more and more involved in community affairs on behalf of his fellow unhoused residents. He alternated between unyielding idealism and strategic compromise, always doggedly pursuing the cause. He was a spare, soft-spoken, thoughtful man who punctuated his pensamientos with long draws on his cigarette. He kept his head together with a handkerchief tied around it, giving him the look of a relic from bygone days of free speech, free love, and free veggie burritos at Dead concerts. But a conversation with him would disabuse anyone of assuming that he was just a hippie. He was a real intellectual. He valued the life of the mind for its own sake. That set him apart not only from most homeless people but also from most of the housed people walking up and down University Avenue with dotcom sugarplums dancing in their heads. Larry intimated that homelessness was his chosen way of life. I admired his proud embrace of his condition even as I questioned the real range of choices that had been available to him. His demons always nipped at his boots, drawing blood and inflicting pain that could be read between the lines on his face. Larry often exasperated the people who loved and respected him most. Was it all a test of fidelity in friendship. a test of solidarity with the suffering? Or was it his way of drawing us into his inner struggle, getting us to feel his pain? He was a guy who didn't take much for granted, and I always admired him for inspiring me to do the same. On many occasions in the process of organizing and building the Opportunity Center, Larry kept it real. He forced the people and the powers-that-be of Palo Alto to take seriously the actual lived experience of the poorest of the poor in our community. He was able to express it in a sophisticated manner that reached people who might otherwise not have heard the message. Larry lived a lot longer than a lot of us thought he would. Was it the sheer tenaciousness that he exhibited all along? I pray that his commitments, his causes, his concerns will remain tenacious for years to come in Palo Alto and beyond. Rest well and easy, dear Larry ---