Obituary: Duncan Campbell Wilkie, 1947-2024 

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• Courtesy
• Duncan Campbell

Duncan Campbell Wilkie, 76, of Montpelier, Vt., died at Central Vermont Medical Center after a long and valiant fight with Parkinson’s disease and Parks dementia with Lewy body features. Prior to his hospitalization, he spent 17 months at Woodridge Rehabilitation and Nursing in the memory care unit. Duncan received excellent care in both facilities and from Central Vermont Home Health & Hospice staff during his long decline. The family extends their heartfelt thank-you.

Duncan was born on August 11, 1947, in Andover, Mass., the son of Robert C. and Barbara M. (Dalton) Wilkie. While he was still young, the family moved to Millis, Mass. In 1967 he graduated from the Hinckley School in Hinckley, Maine, then received a BA degree in history/anthropology/sociology from Defiance College in Defiance, Ohio, in 1971, where he secured two museum internships, at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, Pa., and the Ohio Historical Society Museum in Columbus, Ohio. He also studied in England and Scotland. He received an MA degree in anthropology from the University of Nevada in Reno, Nev., in 1974 and a PhD degree in archaeology from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland in 1979. He specialized in North American archaeology and oversaw archaeological digs in Florida and Ohio during the summers.

Duncan taught sociology, anthropology and archaeology at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, Mo. from 1976 to 1988. While teaching at SEMO, he began a private consulting business called Cultural Resource Consultants, providing archaeological consulting to schools, airports, highways and harbors in Missouri and Tennessee. From 1988 to 1991 he taught archaeology at Plymouth State College in Plymouth, N.H., and was the director of a master’s in education degree program. From 1988 to 1991 he was also the resident archaeologist for the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources.

He came to Vermont in 1992 to become the chief archaeologist for the Vermont Agency of Transportation, a position from which he retired in 2009. While chief archaeologist, he worked on the Bennington Bypass, the Circumferential Highway in Chittenden County, the Alburg-Swanton Bridge, the Lake Champlain Bridge, the Route 7 corridor and other highway projects throughout the state.

Duncan married Kathleen Long of Framingham, Mass., in 1971. Their daughter, Noreen Marie, was born on May 13, 1978, and their son, Mark Brian, was born on July 21, 1983, both in Cape Girardeau, Mo.. Duncan and Kathleen divorced in 1991.

Duncan married Susan L. Wilson of Montpelier, Vt., on August 2, 2008, in the East Montpelier Center Church after a 13-year relationship, having met at a canoe outing sponsored by the Green Mountain Club. Until his death, they resided in Montpelier with their British Labrador retrievers. They both gardened, canoed, birded, and enjoyed snowshoeing, ice skating, cross-country skiing, Scottish country fiddling, and traveling around the U.S., Newfoundland and other Canadian Maritime provinces, from where his grandparents migrated. Duncan is the great-grandson of the Hudson River School painter Robert D. Wilkie, who painted in the Adirondacks, Nova Scotia, Vermont, New Hampshire and Boston areas and has work in the permanent collections of Boston and Halifax museums of art.

Duncan was actively involved in the Green Mountain Club Montpelier Section, serving as its treasurer and work hike coordinator for many years. He established the side-to-side trail badge for the Green Mountain Club with Steve Lightholder and produced pen-and-ink note cards as a fundraiser for the Montpelier Section. His drawings were featured in the Green Mountain Club trail guide, and he was an active member until 2013. He was a long-distance hiker, having completed the Long Trail and all side trails in Vermont and hiked all but 176 miles of the Appalachian Trail when he had to retire from hiking due to a medical issue.

Throughout his career with the Vermont Agency of Transportation, Duncan bowled in the state league and, as his Parkinson’s progressed, he established a team of others with Parkinson’s disease known as the Shakey Papas.

Duncan will be remembered for his kindness, gentle manner, creativity, understated humor and love for oatmeal raisin cookies. He will be greatly missed by his family and many friends he made over the years. Duncan is predeceased by members of his family including his parents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

Surviving members of his family are his wife, Susan; daughter, Noreen, and her husband, Jeremie Lafleur, with granddaughters Claire and Caitlin, of Wilmington Mass.; son, Mark, and his wife, Kelly, with grandsons Cole and Mason, of Beverly, Mass.; brother, Jay, and his wife, Chris, of So. Berwick, Maine; sister, Sarah Greenfield, of Cedar Creek, Texas; Ida Wilson of Florida; cousin in law, James and Camilla Colby of Virginia and Susan Wilson of Ohio; cousin Barbara Smith of Lady Lake, Fla.; and especially his cousin Karen Smith of Goffstown, N.H., with whom he enjoyed much laughter. He is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews across the United States and his beloved Labradors, Sargent and Savvy.

A celebration of his life will be held on July 13, 2024, 2 p.m., at Guare Funeral Home, 30 School St., Montpelier, VT, with a reception following the service. Interment will be earlier in the day at Eaton Cemetery in Marshfield, Vt., for immediate family. Donations can be made to the Parkinson’s Foundation, Green Mountain Club, Central Vermont Home Health & Hospice, or Central Vermont Humane Society. Duncan would want you to remember the power of kindness.