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Kevin Bruce Duecker passed away on Nov. 8, 2017. He was born on March 22, 1955, in Greybull, Wyoming. At age two his family moved to Billings, and he spent most of the rest of his life there. He graduated from Billings West High School in 1973, and attended Arizona State University in the late 70s, from which he received a degree in finance. He owned and operated (with friends) the Western Bar on Minnesota Avenue in the 1980s and early 90s. In 1998 he returned to college and earned his accounting degree from Montana State University-Billings, and his CPA certificate soon after. Kevin and good friend Susan O’Leary established the small-business consulting firm Duecker & Associates in 2001, and he continued to run the business up until his death. He married Tracy Erb in 2007, and though later divorced, he remained committed to his step-grandchildren. He is survived by his brother Kurt, sister-in-law Tedi and their boys Dimitrius and Alexander; and his sister Kelley, brother-in-law Jim, and their children Tori and Jimmy. He loved and cherished his family, his friends, his caregivers and the Green Bay Packers (possibly in reverse order). He hated his wheelchair (1) and being told he couldn’t do something. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Compassus Hospice Care. A memorial gathering will be scheduled at a later date.
Kevin was paralyzed from the neck down in a car accident on Aug. 13, 1976, and he lived the rest of his rich life a quadriplegic, which he endured with grace, grit and bottomless courage, fueled mostly by hope. https://billingsgazette.com/lifestyles/announcements/obituaries/kevin-bruce-duecker/article_b6e631ab-e800-59fd-b9da-ecba2d26c1bd.html
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Tom Vandel
All I know is he bought me (and a bunch of others) a few late night dinners at Wong Village after bars closed. And not just once. Wish I could pay him back.
Kathi Bjorgum
Kevin always took care of me, and my beers, at the keggers. A true gentleman and a good friend over the years.
Kim Kron
Kevin would have turned 66 last month. I met him in 5th grade at Burlington Elementary. We became fast friends, were almost inseperable through junior high and high school and were roomates our first year at MSU. The Dueckers, in turn, became a second family and would remain so throughout Kevin's life.
Kevin had prodigious talent. He excelled in all sports he played, was routinely a straight A student, and a brilliant mathematician. And man could he party! For all his talents he remained a kind and centered person, and usually rose above the jangle of gossip and pettiness. While we all had our "tribes" we usually traveled with, Kevin seemed to be able to belong to all and be friends. He was that unique friend that made you compete and aspire to greater goals. He was a huge influencer in my life.
The night of friday the 13th, August 1976 cahnged EVERYTHING (Kevin often referred to his 2 lives: pre and post injury.) I was in the hospital late one night with him. I knew him so well and could tell something was bothering him. After I asked him, he said "Could you scratch my nose for me?" The enormity of his situation rolled over me then.
Post injury in the days before computers ruled, Kevin attended and graduated from Arizona State "cum laude" in finance. This while only being able to listen and take oral exams.
To live life as a quardaplegic is a Groundhog day of the unimaginable. Kevin had grace and dignity and an ability to put others around him at ease. he was dogged and game and generous to a fault.
I'm forever indebted to Sue, Sunny, Scott and Patti, the Robinsons and others for all the joy they brought to his day to day struggle.
My preferred memory is Kevin as a "Boy of Summer", in shorts on a sunny day, with his unique arm swinging stride on a Laurel CC fairway, flashing that gold toothed grin!
David Whyte, the brilliant Irish poet writes in FRIENDSHIP;
Friendship transcends disappearance: an enduring friendship goes on after death, the exchange only transmuted by absence, the relationship advancing and maturing in a slient internal conversational way even after one half of the bond has passed on.
Mary Westbrook
Thank you Kim for sharing your post about Kevin. Such a beautiful testament to Kevin and to friendship. I suspect I am not alone in reading it more than once in tears. I wanted to post a comment about Kevin but thought that off key given that our "tribes" never crossed paths, and here you have captured even my memory of Kevin so well. We sat next to one another in assigned seats in a class one year and it was Kevin who, over time with quiet dialogue and humor, reached across and established our twosome camaraderie for that one hour every day. A camaraderie that was not dropped when that class ended but went onto pop up now and again in the vast hallways of BWHS. While I did not know Kevin well, I too knew him as one generous with friendship.
Susan Axe (O'Leary)
Kevin was my life-long friend and business partner. Kevin obtained his degree in Accounting following a previous degree in Finance, a CPA license and operated Duecker & Associates, an accounting firm with hundreds of clients who relied on him extensively. He worked tirelessly to meet deadlines through extended recoveries from illness, hospitalizations and surgeries. What I would like to express most is that Kevin had a very full and vibrant life. He married and bonded with grandchildren he never expected. Kevin turned away no one who needed help or a listening ear. I watched him, on a daily basis, meet each new day with a smile and the determination to make a difference. He did! I cannot express how much I miss his smile, intelligence, collaboration, loyalty, conversation, friendship! We saw each other through some very happy times as well as some very difficult times. He was always there for me and, I hope, he felt I was always there for him. I love you, Kevin, and miss you everyday!
Kim Kron
Thank you Susan. You were a rock for him.