Margaret Lynn Duncan

Margaret Lynn Duncan, 74, of Vancouver, British Columbia, died from complications of pancreatic cancer at St. Paul's Hospital on December 26, 2024. She is survived by her spouse Gregory Keith Dow, her sister-in-law Laura Vivian Dow, her nephews and nieces Richard Meacham, Kate Etherington, Jennifer Cohen-Jordan, Jeff Meacham, John Meacham, Heather Cavanaugh, Daniel Qualkinbush, Ray Scott Duncan, and Tina Duncan, as well as her cousins by marriage Carole Spruce, Elizabeth Dickinson, Linnea Olsson, Martha Spruce, and Spencer Hoyt.

 Margaret was born May 22, 1950, in Bedford, Indiana, USA. Her parents, who predeceased her, were Lloyd ('Red') Duncan (d. 1964) and Dorothy May (McPike) Duncan (d. 2014), both from Lawrence County, Indiana. Margaret was also predeceased by six siblings: Mary, Allan, Marcia, Roland, Larry, and Gary. 

 Margaret grew up in severe poverty. She lived in several towns in southern Indiana before her family moved to Detroit, Michigan in 1960. She graduated from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor with a Bachelor of General Studies in psychology, sociology, and women's studies and earned her Master of Social Work degree, also from the University of Michigan, in 1980. 

 Margaret met her second husband Greg at a Halloween party in Ann Arbor, Michigan on October 31, 1977, where she dressed as a black widow spider, and he dressed as a graduate student. They moved to the region around New Haven, Connecticut in 1980. During 1981-1986, Margaret had social work jobs at the West Haven Community House and the Easter Seals Goodwill Industries Rehabilitation Center.

 Margaret and Greg made their marriage official on March 31, 1986. In July 1986, Margaret and Greg, along with Margaret's mother Dorothy, moved to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. At various times during the next nine years, Margaret was the field placement coordinator for students in the University of Calgary School of Social Work, Edmonton Division; a policy analyst and advocate for the Edmonton Social Planning Council; and Executive Director of the Alberta Association of Social Workers. She also taught classes in social policy for the Yellowhead Tribal Council.

 In 1995, Margaret, Greg, and Dorothy moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, where she became Executive Director for the BC Association of Social Workers. Later she was Executive Director for Crescent Beach Neighborhood House (now the Alexandra Neighborhood House) and finally became the Chief Operating Officer for the Centre for Child Development in Surrey, BC, where she managed about 150 staff and guided the Centre toward achievement of CARF accreditation.

 Over her thirty years in the profession, Margaret had an exceptionally wide range of social work roles, including direct service delivery to children and adults with disabilities, advocacy directed toward government and the media, the management of professional regulation and disciplinary processes, and senior management in large organizations. She took pride in all these activities but probably felt the most satisfaction from achieving international accreditation for the Child Development Centre in Surrey, a task requiring several years of concentrated effort and major transformations in organizational practice.

 Margaret deeply loved her spouse, family, and friends. She also loved animals, movies, music, literature, history, politics, travel, learning about other countries and cultures, and protection of the environment. She was kind, compassionate, enthusiastic, smart, determined, curious, funny, and often just silly. However, Margaret had no patience for greed, cruelty, bullying, bigotry, or injustice, and she stood up against them when she saw them. She experienced poverty as a child, witnessed racism in the inner city of Detroit, and had two brothers who suffered for being gay. Her bedrock principle was that everyone has equal value and deserves equal respect. She had formidable strategic talents when she fought for causes she believed in. In her later years, she was impressed by the progress toward rights for women and the LGBTQ community that had been achieved in her lifetime. Margaret was unique but the world needs more people like her.

 No services will be held. In lieu of flowers, please give whatever you can to the Pancreatic Cancer Research Centre, sponsored by the BC Cancer Foundation, the University of British Columbia, and Vancouver General Hospital. Donations can be made at the link below.

https://bccancerfoundation.com/why-give/research/pancreatic-cancer/

You can specify that your gift be directed to pancreatic cancer research. Please indicate that your gift is in memory of Margaret Duncan.