Duane B. Walsh
Duane B. Walsh (87) of Santa Barbara passed away on 10/13/2024 following a brief illness.
Duane was born in Jamaica, NY on 4/21/1937 and was the 3rd son of George and Florence Walsh of St. Albans, NY. Duane’s father was seriously wounded in WWI and passed away when Duane was very young. Duane always gave his loving mom special praise for keeping the house, so he could enjoy the wonderful street fun years of the forties in Queens, NY.
Duane graduated from Andrew Jackson High, Queens, in 1954. He attended Columbian Preparatory School in Washington DC, and entered the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1955. After finishing the plebe year, Duane decided a Naval career was not for him, and upon returning home, he was drafted into the U.S. Army.
During Christmas leave from the Naval Academy in 1955, Duane’s friends set him up on a blind date with Catherine Hughes for a New Year’s Eve party. They married in December 1957 at the Colonial Baptist Church in Bayside, NY. While Duane was on a troop ship headed to Europe, Catherine took the SS United States to France and joined Duane in Heilbronn, Germany. They had a marvelous year and a half seeing much of Europe, including the 1959 World’s Fair in Brussels, while Duane finished his military service.
Back in NYC, they had two sons, Duane Jr. in 1960, and Douglas in 1963. Duane went to work in downtown Manhattan at Manufacturers Trust in electronic accounting, known then as punched cards. He attended one of the first IBM 1401 computer classes in 1960 and embarked on a computer consulting career. He established computer departments at many companies in NYC throughout the 1960s. Duane also graduated from Pace College NYC, with a Bachelor of Accounting and Business Law in 1965.
In November 1969, the family of four took an adventurous two-week drive across the country in their new Camaro, and moved to Glendale, CA. While working in Los Angeles for Peat Marwick Mitchell, one of the big eight audit firms, Duane was given a long-term assignment with the account of Motel 6 Inc., headquartered in Santa Barbara. Duane asked, “Where’s that?”
In May 1970, after his first day of work in Santa Barbara, Duane had dinner in the Somerset Restaurant in Montecito. He wondered why he was dining alone, in this great restaurant, with several tuxedoed waiters standing around. He was told two words, “Oil spill.” Well, this unfortunate event gave Duane the opportunity to spend almost a year at the Miramar Hotel while working on his long assignment. The owner of the Mirimar, Paul Gawzner, allowed Duane to stay in a cabin at $8.00 per night.
When Catherine saw Santa Barbara, she said this is where the family should live. So, they bought a house in Goleta, and Duane accepted a VP position with Motel 6. He built and managed the Motel 6 computer department until the company was sold and moved to Los Angeles. Not wanting to move back to LA, Duane became VP and controller of Dos Pesos Restaurants, established by Motel 6 founders, Paul Green and Bill Becker.
In 1987, Duane retired from corporate life, on his 50th birthday, as Executive VP and Board Member of EK Williams & Co. This company was headquartered in Santa Barbara, on Ekwill Street, and had 350 offices around the world that specialized in service station accounting.
With the boys grown and on with their lives, Catherine started showing Dobermans and Crissie, a Jack Russell. She also sewed fancy dog collars for her dogs and Duane though this might make a good business. So, they founded Colorful Collars, which was a successful pet merchandise business for 30 years, and was sold in 2018.
Unfortunately, after fighting a rare form of cancer for over a year, Catherine passed away in October 2002. She had been a leader in several dog clubs in Santa Barbara, and she was memorialized in a large event, with a dedication of a tree and bench in Elings Park.
In 2008, Duane met the second love of his life, Mary Lynn Snow, who had recently moved to Santa Barbara from Detroit. They were married in Las Vegas in 2010. Their wedding was a very joyous affair at the top suite of the Mirage Hotel, with family and friends coming from all over the country. Duane Jr. officiated the marriage ceremony and Douglas was best man.
With Mary Lynn, life became a wonderful world of travel and adventure. They went on two African safaris and several major cruises to Australia, New Zealand, Russia, China, Cambodia, and Vietnam; along with other cruises to many other countries along the rivers of Europe and the Mediterranean Sea. Duane often said he went everywhere he wanted to go and his bucket list was complete.
Duane also said he was a very lucky man to have had the love of two wonderful women, the love and respect of two great sons and daughters-in-law, and with all five of his smart grandchildren graduating university.
Duane is survived by his loving wife, Mary Lynn; his two sons: Duane Jr (Peggy), Huntsville AL and Douglas (Catherine), Prosser WA; and five grandchildren: Clair Tucker (Cody), Everett WA; Jacob Walsh (Liz), Huntsville AL; Russ Walsh, Prosser WA; Colton Walsh, Huntsville AL; and Jeff Walsh (Chi), Renton WA. Also, step-daughter Alicia Beauvais (David), with Coral, Portland OR; and step-son Randall Kuna, with Dylan and Keegan, Northville MI. Duane was especially proud to be great-grandfather of Lowell Walsh Tucker.
The family held a private memorial with burial at Goleta Cemetery.