In the 1940's he had a large storage tank fall and a coworker was directly under the tank. Duncan rushed forward and pushed the coworker out of the way but the tank hit Duncan on the head. He was hospitalized for a bit after the accident. In 1954 he suffered a detached retina in one of his eyes. He had surgeries in Boston and in San Francisco, but the techniques available at the time were not fully successful. (After each surgery he had to remain in bed motionless for six weeks.)Later the surgery techniques allowed some vision to return. (He actually only had vision in the one good eye.) He also had his thyroid removed in 1953 (I don't know whether it was due to hypo- or hyper-thyroid.) For the last few years of his life he suffered from Dupuytren's contracture in his right hand. This made it difficult for him to manipulate small objects or use his hand with dexterity in spite of several operations on his hands.

    During World War II Duncan developed a process by which alumina could be extracted from anorthosite (a locally occurring rock). This was critical for the War effort because the routes by which we obtained bauxite (the usual source of alumina) were blockaded soon after the War began. The Monolith Company constructed an alumina plant next to the cement plant and went into production for a short time before the War ended. Duncan spent a good deal of time after the war ended in trying to win the legal right to patent his process, but was unsuccessful in this effort.

    One of Duncan's great pleasures was fishing in the Snowy Range Mountains where Duncan first explored many of the lakes and trails. (First white man, the Indians had been there for some time) Some of the lakes in the early 1920's had no names. Duncan also had several interesting hobbies. He always manned a Roulette wheel during Laramie Jubilee Days. He almost never missed his Thursday night poker game at the Laramie Country Club. He could build anything, being competent at laying foundations, doing all the wiring and plumbing, and executing beautiful finish work. In the late 1930's he designed and build a completely monocoque house, with basement, from poured concrete. The house still looks the same today, located in Laramie. In the 1950s he developed a nasal spray he called "NaSol" (for drying up drippy noses) and set up production in the family basement. Unfortunately, the mixture slowly turned the plastic bottles in which it was packaged an unappetizing black color. The venture was not a financial success. (There were cartons of NaSol in the basement for years.)

    For much of his life Duncan was interested in sports. He played softball for the Monolith team, he was part of a bowling league, and he loved golf. He was an avid fisherman, skilled at both bait and fly-fishing. He also hunted deer and pheasant. He was very interested in geology, collected rock samples from all over the world. He cataloged and polished many of them. He was a very kind and gentle man, whom everyone respected.

    When the United Airlines flight #409 crashed (1955) in the Snowy Range Duncan was one of the few with available equipment to assist in the rescue efforts. There were lots of folks who helped in the effort. Duncan was very active in the geology activities of the state of Wyoming. He served on the Wyoming State Bureau of Mines for several years. Duncan also became a member of the Masons while living in Laramie. The family moved to La Canada, California in 1959 where he took over the duties of General Superintendent of the company. He retired in 1969.

    Duncan died on December 6, 1971 in San Gabriel California

    Duncan's ashes were scattered over the pacific ocean.

    She and her new husband began their lives together in the small town of Laramie, Wyoming where they first lived in an apartment on Ivinson Street. During the first Fall in their new home Ruth was diagnosed with tuberculosis. The following remembrance of this period is from a letter written to Ruth's daughter shortly after Ruth's death (Jan. 9, 1988) by a good friend, Gerald Spence:

    "I first met your dad (Dunc) circa 1928. I was working in the State Chemist Lab. In Laramie when one morning a tall young man walked in and asked the Chief if he had a little space where he could make some simple tests on Limestones for the cement plant that was a-building south of town. The space was given and he went to work. He was in and out of the lab. collecting and testing various limestones and shales. After a couple of weeks he didn't show up, then after a period he showed up again and said he was married. Esther, my children's mother, and I soon called on these two very pleasant young people. They were only slightly junior to us and we became good friends. We picnicked, we fished and we played cards. Then your mother became ill and was in a sanatorium in Colorado for a number of months. Ruth was pregnant and the Drs. insisted on an abortion feeling the pregnancies and tuberculosis were not compatible. Ruth returned to Laramie and made a good life for herself and your dad and you and Rea."

    Actually Ruth spent a couple of years in the t.b. sanatorium in Boulder, Colorado. (She was there at the same time as Robert Frost's daughter.) Part of her treatment was a procedure called pneumothorax, in which one of her lungs was permanently collapsed. When she came back to Laramie, she and Duncan built a home at 706 South 14th Street. This home was quite modern (for the 1930s) and had a lovely big yard and garden. Eventually she had a clean bill of health and was told that she could start a family. Her first child, Sarah, was born in 1940 and a son, Duncan Rea III, in 1942. She suffered a miscarriage in 1944 or 1945 and had no more children.

    Unfortunately, every winter Ruth was susceptible to bouts of bronchitis and other congestive difficulties. (It was unfortunate that she was a dedicated smoker.) In 1952 she had her useless lung removed (and in the process had a near-death experience), a procedure that vastly improved her health. She no longer spent winters with weeks at a time coughing and suffering.

    Ruth probably disliked cooking, and housekeeping in general, although she was a proficient homemaker. In 1947 the family moved to a two-story stucco home at 1524 Rainbow Ave. To make ends meet, they rented two or three rooms out to college students for many years. Off and on over the years, Ruth took occasional courses at the University of Wyoming, but never completed her college degree. Her passion was knitting, and she could knit anything! And she did knit hundred and hundreds of sweaters and other articles during her lifetime. For several years she was the joint owner of a yarn shop in Laramie. Another of her passions was making custom jewelry with local stones that Duncan had polished. She learned the art under the tutelage of Robert Russin, the famous sculptor at the University of Wyoming. She also loved playing, bridge, reading mysteries, and, after they got TV in 1958, watching soap operas. She was also very interested in politics (both local and national). She was a member of the Laramie City Council and President, first, of the Laramie chapter and then of the State League of Women Voters in Wyoming.

    The family's move to LaCanada, Ca, in 1959 was difficult for Ruth who had lived in the small community of Laramie (where she knew everyone and everyone knew her) for thirty-two years. Her children were growing up and her husband now commuted to work in Los Angeles every day. After Duncan died in 1971, Ruth moved to Ft. Collins Colorado, near where her two brothers and mother were living. She continued knitting and was a volunteer for the Ft. Collins hospital association. In 1981 she moved to Northern California to be near her daughter. She spent the last years of her life living at the Redwoods in Mill Valley where she continued to knit (earning some spending money by making production sweaters of mohair in luscious colors) and play bridge with new friends.

    Ruth died on December 28, 1987 in Mill Valley California

    Ruth's ashes were scattered by her children at Drakes Beach in Marin County on Mother's Day, 1988.