Heber residents mourn 'old-timer'

Kohler said President Duke enjoyed working on the community's master plan and helping to ensure Heber would be carefully taken care of as it grew.

"He was very confident and had a lot of ideas," said Kohler, who is still a member of the now Wasatch County Council. "He loved to work with people. His people skills made him a good businessman."

There's a long list of Dukes in the Heber phone book, which includes R.L. and Mike Duke, two of the couple's four children who are firefighters for the Wasatch County Fire District. Another son, Spencer, is a sergeant with the Utah Highway Patrol.

Spencer Duke had a passport and could quickly book a flight to Kampala on Thursday to be with their mother and help arrange to bring their father's body home, said Mike Duke.

"She's coming home," Mike Duke said. "As soon as we can get her here, she's coming home."

A man of deep and simple faith, President Duke "was just a giant of a man for everybody that knew him," R.L. Duke said with emotion in his voice. "He was an example to the whole community. He just possessed all the qualities that we all strive to attain. He wasn't fake — people loved him. He loved the gospel and the church and devoted his whole life to that cause, to service."

President Duke had served three LDS missions: one in Australia as a young man; a second with his wife, overseeing the Church Education System in Johannesburg, South Africa; and his most recent assignment as mission president in Uganda.

President Duke had only been home five months and had just been called as a bishop when he was asked by church leaders to serve in Uganda, R.L. Duke said.

"They had two weeks to prepare to take the assignment, and they did it," he said. "They didn't hesitate."

That's how President Duke responded to any call to serve, his sons said.

"Where he was and what he was doing say more than I can," Mike Duke said, choking back tears. "That's what means the most to me. He did whatever he was asked to do as far as serving. He didn't care what the sacrifice was."

"Words can't describe how great a man he was," R.L. Duke said.

The couple raised their children on a ranch, and President Duke loved spending time with his horses and hunting elk and deer, said Steve Provost.

But most of all, he was devoted to his family of four children, their spouses and nine grandchildren — all of whom live in Wasatch County.

"He loved his grandchildren. He would always take his grandkids on little trips and invite them over for a sleepover or take them for a treat. They were the light of his life," R.L. Duke said, noting their last three grandchildren have been born since the Dukes began serving in July 2005.

"We're hanging in there," Mike Duke said. "We're just grateful that we know what we know. Our faith will get us through it."

A member of the Valley Hills 1st Ward, Heber Utah North Stake, President Duke was a former counselor in the stake presidency. He was born in 1949 in Heber to William Howard and Ellen Child Duke. He is survived by his wife, sons R.L., Spencer and Mike, and a daughter, Katie.

Elder William Parmley, a member of the Africa Southeast Area Presidency, has been sent to Uganda and will assume leadership of the mission, Elder Fee said.

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