Revelations - June 2019

This is a monthly column helping us to get to know our friends and members in a deeper way. We thank Monte High for taking the time to do these in-depth interviews for us.
 
      “What is the nature of the world we live in? That is a very complex question and our understanding of it is central to our beliefs. I don’t believe in fixed answers to most questions, but do believe in the necessity of being open to new ways of understanding the world. My beliefs have been changing, and I’m sure they will continue to change as I continue to live my life. I think of my life as a journey. In a journey, you and the world around you are continually changing, always becoming – becoming something new every second. I find that the Unitarian Universalist faith, which allows continual learning rather than any fixed beliefs, to be important for me and I continue to find community there that is of great importance for me.”
    
     Duane Carr is known by all in our congregation as the giver of the glorious, heartfelt bear hugs. His sincere kindness and generosity shine through with each embrace. This is also how Duane embraces the world – arms open wide, cherishing. Yet, anyone that has participated in one of the many UUCGV small groups with Duane, knows that he is a deep thinker.
    
      In the process of becoming the man we know and love, Duane has witnessed a change or two. He grew up on a cattle ranch on the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River. He had four brothers and four sisters. His mother had five children in seven years. “I think my mother was a saint.” The family was isolated. The nearest neighbor was a mile and ½ away. The tiny town of Lake City was 22 miles away and Gunnison was 40 miles away. There was no plumbing for running water or sewer, no electricity and no phone.
    
     Duane went to a one-room school through the fifth grade. They couldn’t find anyone to teach in that remote area, and thereafter he went to school in Gunnison. Duane has special memories of riding the range to check cows with his horse and dog, hiking the hills near the ranch, and branding calves.
    
     After high school, Duane attended Western State College in Gunnison where he achieved a BA in chemistry with a minor in math. Western State is also where he met Arleta. (*I wrote a newsletter article on Arleta a couple years ago.) Duane and Arleta were married in September, 1954. Duane was a year ahead of Arleta in school. They had planned the wedding for the following summer, after Arleta graduated; but, Duane was drafted for the Korean War. Duane and Arleta lived together for six weeks after their wedding before he left for the Army. Arleta remained in Gunnison to complete her degree in elementary education, and then joined Duane at Fort Lewis, in Olympia, Washington. Duane trained to be a medical aidman in the Army but never saw action because the war ended. He served two years. Their son Dan was born at Fort Lewis.
    
     When Duane was released from the Army, the Carr family moved to West Lafayette, Indiana, where Duane earned a PhD from Purdue University. His PhD work was in molecular structure (physical chemistry). Their son Don was born in West Lafayette, only a year after Dan. They had planned on two children and Arleta hoped to have them close together in order to get through the diaper stage and have that done with.
    
     When Duane completed his PhD work the Carr family moved to Crawfordsville, Indiana, where Duane taught physical chemistry and analytical chemistry at Wabash College. After a year, the Carr family picked up and moved again – to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where Duane taught basic chemistry, physical chemistry and inorganic chemistry at Coe College. The Carrs put down roots in Cedar Rapids, where they lived for 33 years. Except for the two sabbatical years, that is.
    
     “After some years at Coe, I was searching for something different and accepted a two-year teaching assignment at the Agricultural Branch of the Haile Selassie I University, near Alemaya, Ethiopia. I am sure those two years made me (and the whole family) realize the diverse character of human lives and I know that it had a profound effect on my understanding of the world. I might have continued there, but being unable to get the children in a good high school, decided to go back to Coe College.”
    
     On the way back to Iowa, the Carr family also visited Greece. Upon their return they began once again to immerse themselves in the local community of Cedar Rapids. They reconnected with their open-minded friends at the Methodist Church. Duane returned to teaching, Don and Dan returned to school and began to reacquaint themselves with old classmates. Arleta went back to school to get her Masters degree.
    
     Over the years there were more trips to experience different cultures. They took part in youth missionary programs near Monterrey, Mexico. Duane will always remember a nine-year-old girl who he bonded with. “Yesenia...  She lived in a shack way out at the edge of Monterrey. She was very thin and I know she did not have lots to eat. Most of the other kids had suitcases, but she had only a plastic bag with a few thin clothes to wear. When it was time to leave, most of the kids were happy to be going home. We had very good food at the camp and I know that was special for Yesenia. She cried the day that she left and holding her was a high point in my life.”
    
     There were family backpacking trips to the Colorado mountains. In the summer of 1988 they began the monumental task of building a cabin from scratch (including the blueprint). Arleta and Don worked the whole summer and Arleta remembers it as one of the best times in her life. They continued to work on improvements over the years. The cabin was built on an 80 acre parcel of Duane’s family ranch. It was a timber claim that was not included in the mortgage that his father took out on the ranch. If you can’t get ahold of Duane or Arleta in the summertime, you can bet they are at the cabin. Once the snow melts from the high country, they make frequent trips to the cabin nestled next to the pond that is fed by a natural spring in the mountains.
    
     Some of the most phenomenal experiences of Duane’s life occurred during an Outward Bound trip to the Boundary Waters in the northern US/southern Canada. They spent 22 days on the water, traveling with canoes. Wonderful, wonderful times on the water, and participation at the campsites was also significant. One night they paddled out into the middle of a large lake, using only a compass to guide them. Out in the middle of the lake – a completely dark, black night – the northern lights came out and danced before their eyes. They leaned back in their canoes and watched the amazing light playing in the sky above them.
    
     In 1993 there was a volunteer mission trip to Tegucigalpa, Honduras. There were trips to Spain. There were Audubon trips to Costa Rica and twice to Arizona. In 1996, after their sons had moved away, Duane and Arleta were ready to retire. They took a trip out to Grand Junction and decided to stay.
    
     They attended a Methodist Church for a short time, but it just didn’t seem to be in the right fit. Duane remembered the thought-provoking ideas he had shared with people from the Unitarian Universalist Church in Iowa. Duane and Arleta found the group of UU’s that was resurrecting from a previous fellowship in Grand Junction. They met some fascinating folks, so they joined and became members. They have been with this group as it has changed and grown over the years, and have grown to love Unitarian Universalism. “We have attended the General Assembly (GA) of the Unitarian Universalist Association many times. One of those times, I attended a workshop by Ursula Goodenough, a cell biologist. That got me interested in her idea of Religious Naturalism. I was also able to talk with her at one of the Mountain Desert District meetings as well. Her understanding of life, its development over time, and its meaning, has come to form a good part of my belief system. Galen Guengerich gave a very interesting workshop proceeding one of the GA meetings, and he has helped my understanding of process theology. And over many years, the Tuesday evening discussions with church (UUCGV) friends have been important.”
    
     Duane tears up when talking about how much he loves our little congregation. And for over 20 years he’s put his love into action, stretching his arms out wide and embracing it in a great big bearhug. He is amazed and ever so grateful when he considers how far we have come since he joined in 1996. From a small group of 12 or so wonderfully strange folks wandering through the desert, calling themselves the Uncompahgre Unitarian Universalist Society, to sharing and renting buildings, and finally to the new wonderfully, beautifully strange UUCGV with our own magnificent building – a place to call home.
    
     Duane helped write our first bylaws. He has been involved in about every aspect of church leadership. He has volunteered at the soup kitchen for over 20 years, and for many years was the leader of the UUCGV group that cooks and serves lunch one Saturday a month. Yet, his favorite, most meaningful participation has come within the small group ministry. The UUCGV has had many small group opportunities – from the Tuesday night adult RE group to various covenant groups, chalice circles or supper circles. They are usually groups of 8 to 12 and provide a more intimate setting to get to better know our fellow members.
    
     Most of the traveling Duane and Arleta do now is up the mountain to the cabin, or to visit family. Both their sons now live in Texas, which makes it easier. Duane loves to spend time with the grandkids. He has six grandkids, two of which have his genes but that makes no difference to Duane. He enjoys just sitting in his yard, watching the birds, enjoying the natural world that is so important to the life he loves.
 
                                                Life goes on…     in endless song…