For vendor Donald Duncan, life is something to be respected in its full potential | December 14-20, 2022

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Donald Duncan never stayed in one place very long, but two things endured: his optimistic outlook on life and his catchy Tennessee twang.

Raised in Greene County, Tennessee, with his four sisters, he has since lived in Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina, California, Texas, Arizona and Washington.

After leaving home at age 18 and spending time in the southeastern US for several years, Duncan got a job with a traveling circus.

It’s an environment I’m not used to, being around elephants, camels, big giants! cat, and like, whoa! Shell shock, he said.

He wore many hats throughout his circus career, first working as an animal handler, then as a prop hand for acrobatic stunts and, finally, as a self-made clown. Not everyone liked the clown act.

A man came in and he said, Man, stay away from me, I don’t like clowns, he said.

Duncan makes a deal with him: He offers to pay for the man’s ticket if he can stop laughing at his acting. Before the show ended, he won his bet.

Although Duncan’s early life was not the easiest, there were some bright spots, such as his many memories at the Smokey Valley Truck Stop, a diner in Olive Hill, Kentucky.

A smile plays on her lips and her eyes leave my face as she remembers her favorite foods, handmade by the woman who owns them: biscuits and gravy (Not the normal kind, she had a kick to it.) and cranberry salad (Out of this world!), all made with ingredients straight from her garden.

After he lived in Houston, Texas, for six or seven months working at a car auction, a man asked if Duncan could deliver to Phoenix, Arizona. Arriving in Phoenix, the man said he would buy Duncan a one-way ticket to anywhere in the United States.

He chose San Francisco, California.

When I got there, I was having fun doing my little hippie thing. I was smoking weed and my little cigarettes and going up to the Haight-Ashbury and sleeping in the park, he said. And I got into recycling. You know, going around in a shopping cart, digging through trash cans. That was pretty fun.

Two months later, she met Richard Smith, whose profile was published by Real Change last month. Duncan calls Smith by his middle name, David.

Thus began a faithful friendship of 17 years and counting.

One day, they went to San Francisco’s business district together, each on the opposite side of the street, a kind of demonstration for their future in Seattle. People kept stopping by Duncan to give money to Smith, who was selling papers on San Francisco’s Street Sheet. Duncan asked him how he got started.

[He said] go to the office, get your papers and stand on the street corner and make a fool of yourself, he said. I said okay, I will be brave.

It didn’t take long before he gave up. He hadn’t gotten much business, he felt defeated. He gave his 10 free papers to Smith, who did everything to encourage him to continue. You have to stay somewhere for a while to get people to know you, he advised Duncan.

I have to give it a chance, Duncan said. That’s where I went wrong, I didn’t give it the chance I needed to let it work.

The two, along with Smith’s wife, eventually decided to move to Seattle.

They decided to start working with Real Change in November 2021, which brings us to the present day.

Duncan has a raccoon friend whom he names Rocky, as well as what he describes as a wolf who sleeps next to his tent, acting as a sort of protector throughout the night.

In the near future, he hopes to get a storage unit so he can move around with more flexibility carrying all his belongings around all day is a little difficult. In the more distant future, he hopes to go to Scotland or Ireland.

Duncan brings himself to a thoughtful silence that dissolves into the current of stories just beneath the surface; she shares her life in a way that is both warm and informative.

Every waking day is a blessing, he said. Every day you open your eyes to see the next sunset is a blessing Take all you can and honor it to its full potential.

During his years in the traveling circus, Duncan traveled to at least 11 states, and his tenacious and charismatic spirit has taken him to all corners of the country in the decades since.

Seattle is lucky to have him in this chapter of his life.

Taija PerryCook is a student journalist studying at the University of Washington, Seattle. Find her on Twitter @taijalynne.

Donald Duncan sells Real Change every day at the corner of Broadway and Thomas on Capitol Hill. His badge number for Venmo payments is 14564.

Read more in the December 14-20, 2022 issue.

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