SEQUIM — Bob Duncan was an avid golfer, Alaska Airlines pilot and “Cp’n Bob” in a commercial with Russell Wilson.
And his brother-in-law, David Dow, adored him.
Dow, 54, shared many of the same interests: airplanes, golfing, animals, driving golf carts, attending Dungeness Community Church and of course, rooting on the Seahawk’s No. 3 man.
Dow, who has Down syndrome and dementia, lives with the Duncan family. When Bob Duncan and then Mary Jane Dow were engaged, she told him, “David and I are a package deal. He will live with me someday.”
Now, Mary Jane Duncan recalls the relationship between her late husband and Dow as “sweet” and “wonderful.”
“David loved Bob,” she said. “Bob could do no wrong.”
Before he died Nov. 27, 2015, Bob Duncan, along with Mary Jane, supported Clallam Mosaic, a nonprofit that continues education for individuals with developmental disabilities in Clallam County. Mary Jane is a board member, and Dow regularly participates in classes and monthly dances.
Bob Cup
On Saturday, the second annual Bob Cup will raise money for a permanent “Mosaic House” for the organization.
The memorial golf tournament will be at The Cedars at Dungeness Golf Course, 1965 Woodcock Road. It’s a fitting setting for the namesake — Duncan’s father helped create the course in the early 1960s, and Duncan and Dow enjoyed many a golf game there.
Player/team check-ins begin at 7:30 a.m. and the shotgun start goes off at 9 a.m. Teams will be competing for the Bob Cup, a towering trophy Mary Jane chose for its outlandishness.
To heighten the competition, Alaska Airlines — Bob Duncan’s employer for 32 years — also donated two round-trip airline tickets to anywhere the airline serves (excluding Cuba).
The tickets will be raffled during the barbecue lunch that follows the tournament at 2:30 p.m.
Cost is $100 per player and includes lunch; barbecue-only tickets are $25 for pre-registered attendees and $25 at the door.
Mosaic House
Last year, the first Bob Cup raised money for a Clallam Mosaic building. So far, the organization has secured $30,000 of the $200,000 needed for a building, Mary Jane said. A contractor gave Mary Jane a $200,000 bid for a “basic of basics” building, she said.
“It’s a drop in the bucket,” she said.
The building would house Clallam Mosaic’s classes, which include cooking, art, theater, fit and strong, living stronger, rec club and photography. Currently, the classes bounce between various locations in Sequim. Many of the spaces are donated, Mary Jane said.
“We are very much at the mercy at what people can help us out with,” she said.
About Clallam Mosaic
Four families started Clallam Mosaic, then called Special Needs Advocacy Parents (SNAP), upon realizing the “void” that awaited individuals with developmental disabilities post secondary education.
In 1999, SNAP offered its first weekly class, rec club. Now, Clallam Mosaic offers 12 to 18 hours of classes per week.
The courses encourage healthful living, arts and culture, and lifelong learning that both retains and expands knowledge from the public school system.
“When the yellow school bus stops coming at 21, this is the alternative,” Duncan said.
Dow always enjoys art class and theatre.
He flourishes during the artistic process. One of his proudest pieces — a collage of airplanes that took him about three months to create — serves as a small reminder of the relationship Dow and Duncan shared.
“David misses Bob in a lot of ways,” Mary Jane said.
Bob Duncan’s life
Robert “Bob” Raymond Duncan, the youngest child of Dr. William and Elene Duncan, moved to Sequim in 1961. He attended Sequim High School, graduating in 1974.
When Duncan’s father William, a golfer, found no golf courses in the region, he set about starting one himself. Duncan’s family, along with others, founded The Cedars at Dungeness Golf Course when Duncan was 5 years old.
One of Duncan’s claims to fame was his association with a world-class golfer. In high school, Duncan played golf with Fred Couples, who was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2013, Mary Jane said.
Aside from golfing, Duncan loved to fly. He flew with Alaska Airlines for 32 years, almost as long as he was married to Mary Jane: nearly 34 years.
Mary Jane and Duncan have five children, one of whom they adopted: Carl, Alastair, Danika, Clara and William.
“I always wanted four kids. Bob said he didn’t know,” Mary Jane said. “So, we compromised and had four.”
Mary Jane loves to tell the story of how her husband ended up on a commercial with Russell Wilson.
Alaska Airlines put out the call for crew members to submit a short video explaining why they loved Alaska Airlines. About 20 employees would be chosen. Duncan did the math, and figured “two old, white guys” could make the cut, Mary Jane said.
Nervously, Duncan stood against the fireplace in their home, donning his captain’s uniform. Mary Jane held the camera and told Duncan to relax.
“Just tell Russell why you love Alaska.”
They had to refilm several times when a cat would sneak into the frame, but eventually, the couple settled on a video.
Duncan explained how Alaska Airlines flew him back to Mary Jane when she went into labor, how Alaska gave him time off to go on several mission trips where they built houses and served in orphanages, how Alaska always put his family first.
“So why not me, Russell?” Duncan quipped at the end, flashing a grin.
The homemade, albeit clever, video caught Wilson’s attention and Duncan was among the few chosen.
The 2015 commercial features “chief football officer” Russell Wilson at an Alaska Airlines company retreat. “You may be wondering why we’re woodcarving,” Wilson says to the crew.
“What are we learning from this?” a crew member asks.
“Details, small details,” Wilson says. “Now, Cp’n Bob knows about the details.” Wilson plugs his phone into a wood-carved airline seat, and it powers on.
In lieu of flowers at Duncan’s funeral, the family requested donations to the Mosaic House.
Soon, the Bob Cup will offer friends of the Duncan family and Clallam Mosaic another opportunity to contribute to the Mosaic House.
For more information about Bob Cup or to register, go to www.clallammosaic.org/bob-cup/, call 360-683-6314 or email bobcup@clallammosaic.org.
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Reporter Sarah Sharp can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56650, or at ssharp@peninsuladailynews.com.
