Obituary of Duane Spenst

Duane passed away on Saturday, August 21, 2010, at the age of 68. He was born in California before his family later moved to the Portland, Oregon area where he spent his youth until he entered the U.S. Navy at the age of 17. A few years later, he met and married his wife, Ruth, in Mobile, Alabama. After being medically retired from the Navy, he began a rewarding and successful 30 year career with IBM as an Engineer. As he grew in his career, his family lived in Texas and Illinois before spending the last 29 years in Tucson, Arizona where he retired from IBM. Duane was not one to stay retired long. He accepted one of the first management positions in Tucson for AOL when it was a new company. He had an active role in the successful growth of AOL for 5 years before he decided to retire for the second time to work with Ruth in businesses they owned together. They owned several "TCBY" Yogurt Stores in the Tucson area for ten years before selling their stores and opening a mail and parcel store, Mail Solutions and More. After selling this business in 2007, Duane and Ruth finally settled into full retirement. For Duane, his wife, children and grandchildren always came first and were his number one priority. He was a very generous and caring man and enjoyed helping others. He was very excited about any new technology that came around and enjoyed fishing, RV travel, boating, and tinkering in his workshop. Anyone who knew Duane always new he kept a book in his back pocket which he could pull out at anytime to read. He had many interests like cars, computers, movies and adding to his numerous collections. He is survived by his wife of 44 years, Ruth Spenst, daughters Kimberly Kepler and Kristy (Jeffrey) Larsen, grandchildren Kaity, Hunter, Braden and Brooke. Also his brothers John (Debbie) Spenst and Dave (Karan) Spenst, as well as many cousins, nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents Alvin R. and Ann Mary Spenst and his sister Gloria Pigg. Duane was an excellent husband, father, grandfather and friend and will be missed greatly. His passing leaves a big hole in our lives and we will carry his loving memory always in our hearts. We will always love you, miss you and never forget you.