
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, December 6, 1994                   TAG: 9412060078
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD                                LENGTH: Medium

CHURCH, COMMUNITY LEADER'S DEATH 'GREAT LOSS'

A stunned community is trying to make sense of the tragic death of one of its leaders, George L. Ducker, a School Board member and clergyman. Ducker, 47, died Sunday afternoon after a near head-on collision with a truck on Peppers Ferry Road (Virginia 114) in Christiansburg, not far from the New River Valley Mall where he had been Christmas shopping for his wife, Lane.

Funeral arrangements were incomplete late Monday afternoon, a spokeswoman at Seaver-Sanders and Mullins Funeral Home said.

Ducker was in his third full term as the Radford School Board's East Ward representative. He joined the board in 1987. Earlier this year, he celebrated his 10th anniversary at Presbyterian Church of Radford.

Shocked community and church leaders and members alike remembered Ducker as caring, compassionate and community-minded.

A somber School Board Chairman Guy Gentry said Monday that Ducker was not only his colleague and pastor, but his friend. "It's an understatement to say that Radford has suffered a great loss," he said.

Gentry and School Board colleague Chip Craig both remembered Ducker as a man of integrity who stuck to his beliefs, no matter how unpopular. Gentry recalled that Ducker took a lot of heat not long after joining the board for his opposition to school-sponsored prayers before athletic events, which the board eventually voted to ban.

"George didn't bat an eye. He knew what was right," Gentry said, adding that Ducker's perspective was instrumental in helping the board wrestle with the controversy.

Gentry also recalled Ducker's affectionate side. "George was a hugger," he said. "That's the way he was."

Ducker "always had the best interests of the children at heart," Craig said. "He will be terribly missed."

Superintendent of Schools Michael Wright said Ducker coupled "a wonderful sense of humor" with enthusiasm and candor as a board member. "Our school system has lost a great friend," he said. Ducker was instrumental in helping to plan the fine arts addition that opened this fall at Radford High School, he said. "No one was prouder of that facility than the Reverend Ducker."

The Duckers' younger son, Brian, 15, is a Radford High School sophomore.

Linda McMillan, the secretary at Ducker's church since 1981, remembered "his laughter, his humor, his caring nature, not only for the congregation but the community at large."

One of Ducker's longtime colleagues in the Radford-Fairlawn Ministerial Association, the Rev. Bill Jackson of Fairlawn Presbyterian Church, said Ducker "would want to be remembered as a pastor and a friend" as well as for his community service on the School Board and with New River Community Action.

"He had a great sense of humor, and we shared a lot of laughter," he added.

Another ministerial association colleague, the Rev. Gina Rhea of Radford's First Christian Church, called Ducker "a wonderful family man" and "a community servant." She said Ducker - a former ministerial association president - was a prime mover behind Radford Community Hospital's recent hiring of a new chaplain.

Rhea expressed a hope that those mourning Ducker take some comfort in the message of Advent and Christmas, "that God is with us to give us strength and support to help get through the hard times."

Ducker's wife and several of the church's 250 active members learned of Ducker's death while attending a reception at the church Sunday afternoon.

Ducker's predecessor, the Rev. Wade Kay, also died suddenly - of a massive heart attack while attending a conference in Richmond in February 1983.

"I'm very sad that this has occurred to this church again," McMillan said, predicting it would be a long time before a search committee is formed to find Ducker's replacement.

Glenn Young, a Radford Presbyterian Session member, was on the committee that brought Ducker to Radford from South Carolina. Sunday night, he and others accompanied Lane Ducker to Greensboro, N.C., to break the news to the Duckers' older son, Greer, who attends college there.

Officials of the Presbytery of the Peaks were scheduled to meet with the Presbyterian Church of Radford Session Monday night to help the congregation deal with the loss.

Radford Mayor Tom Starnes also was still grappling with the news Monday. "I always found George was very up front with City Council and tried to enhance the school system," he said.

Although city voters recently approved the election of School Board members, City Council will have to name a replacement to fill the remainder of Ducker's term, which is up in 1996.

by CNB