Duane was born in Maryland where he married Helen Tabor. They moved to Sonoma County, California and had a son and a daughter. Duane had a son by a girl named Sandy around the same time John Lindsey Wilson II was born. The other son was born in Maryland. Duane and Helen moved back to Maryland briefly before settling in Florida. They divorced, and Duane married Linda Sessoms in 1977. They had one daughter together. Linda had three sons from a previous marriage.
Duane had a heart condition and had been in the hospital because of it in 2001. On the day he was supposed to be discharged from the hospital, however, he died. He had been employed by Polk County Schools and had a school bus garage named after him in the city of Lake Wales, Florida. It is called the Duane E. Wilson Transportation Service Center.
Obituary:
Duane E. Wilson, 57, of Winter Haven, died Friday, Sept. 28, 2001, of heart failure, at Winter Haven Hospital.
Born Jan. 4, 1944, in Baltimore, Md., he moved to Winter Haven 32 years ago from Maryland.
He was a shop foreman for the Polk County School Board for 30 years. He was a Baptist.
Mr. Wilson was preceded in death by a daughter, Mary VanDyke; his father, John Wilson, and a stepson, Michael Crenshaw.
Survivors include his wife, Linda Wilson of Winter Haven; a son, John L. Wilson of West Palm Beach; a daughter, Angela W. Shearer of Bartow; his mother, Laura Wilson of Winter Haven; a brother, Michael Wilson of Atlanta; two stepsons, Jack Crenshaw and Eric Crenshaw, both of Winter Haven, and six grandchildren.
Visitation: Sunday, Sept. 30, 2-4 p.m., Whidden McLean Funeral Home, 650 East Main Street, Bartow.
Funeral: Monday, Oct. 1, 10 a.m., at Whidden-McLean Funeral Home, with Rev. Randall Pulley officiating.
