Lydia Herrera Duncan (January 24, 1934 -- August 23, 2015
Lydia was born in Los Angeles, CA in 1934, the eighth of nine children born to Luisa Hanner. Her father was Daniel Herrera. Raised in Pico, CA and Los Angeles, Lydia learned English as a second language when she began to attend school, and later spoke refined English without any accent.
As a schoolgirl, Lydia tried her hand at poetry, was one of the princesses in the court for the Mexican Independence Day celebration in Los Angeles, and studied the Baile Foklorico, at which she became proficient. In addition to dancing, she was self-taught on the guitar and loved to sing, something she continued to do her entire active life.
At sixteen, she was sent to Stockton, CA to live with her sister, Theresa Hanner, and attended Stockton City College, where she earned her high school diploma. Despite having some promise as a dancer, she opted to join the Navy, where she served as a stenographer. Within a year of being posted to Pier 91 in Seattle, she married her husband of fifty-three years, Merle A. Duncan, and eleven months later had her first child. She and her husband would have eight children altogether.
Lydia was a stay at home mom but did not confine herself simply to raising children. Although she never earned a college degree, she had an active mind and loved to read, studying the Bible and the works of Teilhard de Chardin. A committed, life-long cradle Catholic, she was motivated by a strong sense of noblesse oblige, practicing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy through many volunteer endeavors, which led to paying positions at Glen Terrace Nursing home, Riverton Hospital, and Catholic Community Services.
Later in life, Lydia suffered a heart attack and a series of strokes that left her debilitated. This, combined with complications from type 2 diabetes caused her health to slowly decline. A few years after her husband's death, she was moved from her home to an assisted living facility, and finally to an adult care home where she died of heart failure at the age of eighty-one.
A member of Our Lady of Lourdes parish since 1962, Lydia is buried at Riverton Crest Cemetery in Tukwila, WA, the same cemetery where her daughter, Maria, is buried.
Composed by Steven Duncan
Lydia was born in Los Angeles, CA in 1934, the eighth of nine children born to Luisa Hanner. Her father was Daniel Herrera. Raised in Pico, CA and Los Angeles, Lydia learned English as a second language when she began to attend school, and later spoke refined English without any accent.
As a schoolgirl, Lydia tried her hand at poetry, was one of the princesses in the court for the Mexican Independence Day celebration in Los Angeles, and studied the Baile Foklorico, at which she became proficient. In addition to dancing, she was self-taught on the guitar and loved to sing, something she continued to do her entire active life.
At sixteen, she was sent to Stockton, CA to live with her sister, Theresa Hanner, and attended Stockton City College, where she earned her high school diploma. Despite having some promise as a dancer, she opted to join the Navy, where she served as a stenographer. Within a year of being posted to Pier 91 in Seattle, she married her husband of fifty-three years, Merle A. Duncan, and eleven months later had her first child. She and her husband would have eight children altogether.
Lydia was a stay at home mom but did not confine herself simply to raising children. Although she never earned a college degree, she had an active mind and loved to read, studying the Bible and the works of Teilhard de Chardin. A committed, life-long cradle Catholic, she was motivated by a strong sense of noblesse oblige, practicing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy through many volunteer endeavors, which led to paying positions at Glen Terrace Nursing home, Riverton Hospital, and Catholic Community Services.
Later in life, Lydia suffered a heart attack and a series of strokes that left her debilitated. This, combined with complications from type 2 diabetes caused her health to slowly decline. A few years after her husband's death, she was moved from her home to an assisted living facility, and finally to an adult care home where she died of heart failure at the age of eighty-one.
A member of Our Lady of Lourdes parish since 1962, Lydia is buried at Riverton Crest Cemetery in Tukwila, WA, the same cemetery where her daughter, Maria, is buried.
Composed by Steven Duncan
Lydia Herrera Duncan (January 24, 1934 -- August 23, 2015
Lydia was born in Los Angeles, CA in 1934, the eighth of nine children born to Luisa Hanner. Her father was Daniel Herrera. Raised in Pico, CA and Los Angeles, Lydia learned English as a second language when she began to attend school, and later spoke refined English without any accent.
As a schoolgirl, Lydia tried her hand at poetry, was one of the princesses in the court for the Mexican Independence Day celebration in Los Angeles, and studied the Baile Foklorico, at which she became proficient. In addition to dancing, she was self-taught on the guitar and loved to sing, something she continued to do her entire active life.
At sixteen, she was sent to Stockton, CA to live with her sister, Theresa Hanner, and attended Stockton City College, where she earned her high school diploma. Despite having some promise as a dancer, she opted to join the Navy, where she served as a stenographer. Within a year of being posted to Pier 91 in Seattle, she married her husband of fifty-three years, Merle A. Duncan, and eleven months later had her first child. She and her husband would have eight children altogether.
Lydia was a stay at home mom but did not confine herself simply to raising children. Although she never earned a college degree, she had an active mind and loved to read, studying the Bible and the works of Teilhard de Chardin. A committed, life-long cradle Catholic, she was motivated by a strong sense of noblesse oblige, practicing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy through many volunteer endeavors, which led to paying positions at Glen Terrace Nursing home, Riverton Hospital, and Catholic Community Services.
Later in life, Lydia suffered a heart attack and a series of strokes that left her debilitated. This, combined with complications from type 2 diabetes caused her health to slowly decline. A few years after her husband's death, she was moved from her home to an assisted living facility, and finally to an adult care home where she died of heart failure at the age of eighty-one.
A member of Our Lady of Lourdes parish since 1962, Lydia is buried at Riverton Crest Cemetery in Tukwila, WA, the same cemetery where her daughter, Maria, is buried.
Composed by Steven Duncan
Lydia was born in Los Angeles, CA in 1934, the eighth of nine children born to Luisa Hanner. Her father was Daniel Herrera. Raised in Pico, CA and Los Angeles, Lydia learned English as a second language when she began to attend school, and later spoke refined English without any accent.
As a schoolgirl, Lydia tried her hand at poetry, was one of the princesses in the court for the Mexican Independence Day celebration in Los Angeles, and studied the Baile Foklorico, at which she became proficient. In addition to dancing, she was self-taught on the guitar and loved to sing, something she continued to do her entire active life.
At sixteen, she was sent to Stockton, CA to live with her sister, Theresa Hanner, and attended Stockton City College, where she earned her high school diploma. Despite having some promise as a dancer, she opted to join the Navy, where she served as a stenographer. Within a year of being posted to Pier 91 in Seattle, she married her husband of fifty-three years, Merle A. Duncan, and eleven months later had her first child. She and her husband would have eight children altogether.
Lydia was a stay at home mom but did not confine herself simply to raising children. Although she never earned a college degree, she had an active mind and loved to read, studying the Bible and the works of Teilhard de Chardin. A committed, life-long cradle Catholic, she was motivated by a strong sense of noblesse oblige, practicing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy through many volunteer endeavors, which led to paying positions at Glen Terrace Nursing home, Riverton Hospital, and Catholic Community Services.
Later in life, Lydia suffered a heart attack and a series of strokes that left her debilitated. This, combined with complications from type 2 diabetes caused her health to slowly decline. A few years after her husband's death, she was moved from her home to an assisted living facility, and finally to an adult care home where she died of heart failure at the age of eighty-one.
A member of Our Lady of Lourdes parish since 1962, Lydia is buried at Riverton Crest Cemetery in Tukwila, WA, the same cemetery where her daughter, Maria, is buried.
Composed by Steven Duncan
