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THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2008
Hoyt Duncan honored as Master Craftsman at furniture show
Hoyt Duncan. A man
unequal in his generation
or mine. A man of integrity
and of faith. A man who
had many lifetimes of jobs,
hobbies, gifts and talents. A
man still young at 104 years
of age.
I was invited to a Hoyt
Duncan furniture show at
BJC Nursing Facility on
Saturday. I love talking
with Mr. Duncan, so I was
more than thrilled to go. I had heard
many stories about Hoyt Duncan
and thought I knew him fairly well.
But as soon as I walked in the room,
I knew I didn’t know him at all.
Some of my favorite stories had
been about the water he
found for people. He
made a rod that would
point to where the well
should be dug and you
could bet the farm that
you would find water.
He has a memory that
is unbelievable. To this
day, he knows where
every well is and how
deep they had to go to
hit water. He remembers
everyone he ever met and every
phone number he used to dial.
While I was talking with Hoyt in
his room after the show, a gentleman
walked in that hadn’t seen him in a
while. The man was hard of hearing
and Hoyt was hard of seeing. The
man hollered his hellos and asked,
“Hoyt, do you know who I am?”
Hoyt said, “It sounds like Lamar
Wilbanks!” Sure enough, it was. So,
now I can chalk it up to Mr. Duncan
even memorizing voices!
The furniture show was excellent.
Jim Cantrell had called friends and
family to bring in pieces of furniture
and the friendly staff at the nursing
facility had a large meeting room
available and all the refreshments
you could eat. Over one hundred
people came through to enjoy his
work. I was amazed at all the beau
tiful pieces of furniture. There must
have been over 60 pieces there.
An antique lovers paradise! There
were benches, chests, jelly safes, pie
safes, knife holders, mill paddles,
ducks and signs made from all kinds
of beautiful wood. Cedar, Cherry,
Oak, Sweet Gum, Douglas Fir, and
Pine.
The furniture was a beauty to
behold but when you looked closely,
studying each piece, that is where
the true beauty started. The pieces
were either dove tailed or had mor
tise joints. All four sides fit together
like a glove. One piece was even
sloped from top to bottom and he
figured out the pattern for his dove
tails! Each piece was cut with a
“plane ole hand saw.” Each of his
chests had a cute little till built in.
It would take a craftsman years to
perfect his art, but it seemed Hoyt
was born with it. He didn’t even
start making furniture until he was
in his 80s.
Hoyt Duncan and his wife Marie
(My-ree) lived off of McDonald
Circle in a beautiful cabin. He was
a farmer and had at least three
gardens going at all times. He col
lected Indian artifacts while garden
ing. Paul, his son, said, “He did
GRANDDAUGHTER AT SHOW
Paula Duncan Hancock, granddaughter of Hoyt Duncan, is
shown at a recent furniture show held in his honor.
janice
tennent
DUNCAN HONORED
Hoyt Duncan was honored with a furniture show held recently
in his honor. He is shown holding his Divining Rod.
more picking up than plowing!” He
knows where every Indian burial
mound is in Banks County and he
knew old man Charlie Wheeler, an
original Indian, very well.
During Hoyt’s life he drove a truck
for Sinclair Oil Company delivering
fuel. Once, his son Paul and Dink
McCoy were skipping school. They
decided to hitch hike to Commerce
to hang out a while. Finally, here
comes a big ole truck and they stuck
their thumb out to get a ride. As the
truck came to a stop, they realized it
was Papa. Papa Duncan drove them
to right up to school and turned
them over to the principal. The prin
cipal said, “Come on in, boys!”
Each one got a good whoopin.’ As
Paul tells the story, Dink had to
bend over and put his nose on the
desk. With each strike of the paddle,
Dinks nose would move up and then
back down the desk. Paul was howl
ing with laughter as he remembered
the story. Dink finally looked up
at Paul, gave a half grin and said,
“Well you got your beating right
after me!”
Hoyt also had chicken houses,
built bridges, was school bus driver
and a custodian for the school and
the bank. He was about 70 years old
and retired from it all, except for the
gardening. And, he was living alone
at this time.
Paula, his only granddaughter,
was 17-years-old and still living at
home. She went over to his house
which was next door and just moved
him right into her house. Paula’s
dad, Paul, had made himself a small
engine repair shop and Papa started
to take it over little by little, as
he started repairing and refinishing
furniture.
Before long, he had a club going
on. Every Tuesday at 5 p.m., a
bunch of young men would come
over and watch him work. They each
had a black folding chair with their
nickname painted on it. Some of
the men that would faithfully attend
were: Jimmy Cochran, Kenneth
Cochran, Dink McCoy, Bobby Irvin,
LV Lundsford, Jim Cantrell, Billy
Evans, Mac Copeland, Glen Lee,
Curtis Thomas, Jerry Mealor, Vic
Ford, Pete Mintz and Curt Brown,
who was all the way from Toccoa.
One time, Mac and Billy brought a
table over that had the bottom of its
legs rotting and wanted turnip legs
put on it. I am sure he was expecting
fine round legs that were turned on a
lathe, but when he returned the next
week, Hoyt had gotten four giant
turnips out of the garden and set
them on the bottom of the legs!
As the story goes, Hoyt had a
beautiful chest in his room that he
would study and one day, when he
was about 83 years old, he got the
itch to make one. I guess all it took
was the “itch” after that he was well
on his way to yet another career.
He made log benches, replicas of
chests and pie safes. He made well
over 1,000 pieces, each one finely
crafted. When he was 90 years old
and couldn’t see his pencil marks
anymore, he would mark the wood
with a nail and cut it with his hand
saw by feel, and each piece would
still be flawless.
Paula has the prettiest piece of
furniture I have ever seen in my
life. It’s a miniature pie safe about
18 inches tall. The first one her
Granddaddy had ever made. It’s
built out of oak that is golden in
color. It is so smooth it looks like it
had been hand rubbed for over 100
years. The hinges and punched metal
are made out of brass that has turned
the prettiest patina I have ever seen.
I would have paid her a lot of money
for it, right then and there. My heart
fell in love and yearned for it. But
it, nor any of the others, were for
sale and probably never will be. The
people who brought the pieces in to
show are lucky to know and to own
a Hoyt Duncan!
Janice Tennent is a resident of
Homer. She writed an occasional
column about the people and places
of Banks County.
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