2024 01/20 – Sherrill K. Duncan

Sherrill K. Duncan was born on December 15, 1938, in Salem, IL to Iola and Frank Duncan. He departed this life on January 11th, 2024, at his home with his family at his bedside.

Sherrill lived in Salem all his life working alongside his father and his son on the family farm. While attending Salem High School he met and fell in love with his beautiful wife, Dora Mae. They were married on November 24th, 1957 when they along with Larry and Peggy Storment eloped to Mississippi because the legal age was seventeen. Sherrill and Dora Mae have had a loving marriage and were blessed with two children, three grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

As a young man, Sherrill began to travel with his band Reb Duncan and ‘The Sundowners’. He was the lead singer and played with his band throughout the 70s. When he left the band it was because he wanted to spend more time with his growing family. Though he did not play in his band anymore he never gave up his love of singing and playing the guitar. In the basement of his home, he had a small studio where he recorded countless albums of gospel music. He turned his love of music into his way of spreading the gospel of his Lord Jesus Christ. Any person who knew Sherrill at some point received one of his gospel tapes. He always had at least five different cassettes on him and if you were at ‘the store’ you went home with more.

Along with singing Sherrill had a love of cowboy boots (his closet of cowboy boots is a sight to behold). He turned his love of cowboy boots into what is now Double D Western Wear. Sherrill and his wife started Double D off their back porch and stored the boots in their son, Jeff’s bedroom. In 1973, they built the little red barn with the horse on the roof on Hwy 50 where at some point you have been waited on by his son, Jeff, daughter-in-law, Caroline, granddaughters, Clarissa and Cricia, and now great-grandchildren, Gunner and Chloe. Through the years there have been several wonderful people who worked at the Western store and they would always be considered family.

In Sherrill’s life, he wore several hats from farmer, country western singer, business owner, to surveyor of Interstate 57. He always would lend a helping hand but he would be teased by his family for how long it took him to put on his leather gloves.

Sherrill had a way with words and if he had written this obituary the newspaper wouldn’t have enough paper. If you ever received one of his typed letters it was a minimum of 2 pages single spaced that he would type on his old typewriter.

He is survived by his Spouse, Dora Mae Duncan; his son, Jeff Duncan, and his wife, Caroline Duncan; his daughter, Sherri Robinson and her husband, David Robinson; his granddaughter Clarissa Duncan-Pryor and her husband Adam Pryor; his granddaughter Cricia Timmons and her husband David Timmons; his grandson, Dominique Duncan-Robinson; his great-grandchildren; Gunner and Chloe Timmons and soon to be Kendrick Robinson; and his sister Marilyn Teel along with his niece and nephews and their children.

He is preceded in death by his father Frank and mother Iola Duncan, his in-laws Lawrence and Hazel Mae Howe, and his brother in laws Glenn and Don Howe.

It is with deep sadness to announce, that Sherrill K. Duncan, has shaped his last hat on this earth. He passed away in his home this morning, on Thursday, January 11th, at the age of 85. In his lifetime, he shaped the lives of everyone who knew him. To watch him shape a hat was a work of art he was thoughtful with each movement. He is now in heaven shaping the hats for the angels.

“To everything, there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.”
-Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

The Duncan Family invites all of Sherrill’s friends and family to celebrate his life on Saturday, January 20, 2024, at 1:00 PM at the Sutherland-Rankin Funeral Home in Salem, Illinois with Don Wallace officiating. A time of visitation with the family will be held Saturday from 10:00 AM until the time of service at the Funeral Home. Donations may be made to the Marion County Fair and will be accepted at the Sutherland-Rankin Funeral Home at 310 North Broadway/P.O. Box 97 Salem, Illinois 62881, (618)548-1234, who is honored to be of service to Sherrill’s Family. Online condolences may be made to the family by visiting www.sutherlandfuneralhome.com and the Sutherland Funeral Homes Facebook Page.