Duane Alan Kanar

Duane Alan Kanar, of Waddell, Arizona; died on January 29th, 2020, after a long battle with Prostate Cancer. Duane was born February 16th, 1948 to Thelma Grissom and Edmund Kanar in Dayton, Ohio.

Duane grew up in Tacoma, Washington, where he attended Mount Tahoma High School. Duane was a fun and outgoing kid, who easily won over the hearts of his classmates and would become their class president. Duane went on to get his Bachelor’s degree, after high school, and would eventually go to work for Archway Cookies.

During his time working for Archway Cookies, Duane met Janice. While stocking cookies at a grocery store, Janice overheard Duane inviting another woman out to dinner, half-joking she walked up to him and asked him why he never invited her out for dinner. Duane, caught completely off guard, explained that the other woman was the wife of his friend, but that he would love to take Janice out for dinner. While Janice wasn’t ready for a relationship at the time, the pair became best friends spending countless nights watching movies, having dinners and just spending time together. Eventually, when Janice was ready, they began a romantic relationship. The rest of their journey together plays out like a beautiful love story. Duane was a very romantic man, who would leave Archway Mud Pie Cookies on Janice’s car and hang hundreds of hearts from the ceiling on Valentine’s Day. He even enjoyed watching Hallmark movies with Janice, maybe even more than she did.

Janice was one of the recipients of Duane’s many jokes and puns. Duane’s favorite joke involved an elaborate set up describing how he came out of his house to see a gigantic snake sitting on his car, he panicked before discovering that it was a “Vinshield Viper.” Duane kept his sense of humor throughout his battle with cancer telling jokes to his doctors, nurses and numerous visitors. His love of jokes extended past just his words and bled into his fashion sense. He amassed a large collection of statement t-shirts, which became his signature look.

Duane loved playing darts and was a soft tip dart champion in Washington. He, also, loved his Panoz Sports Car Roadster and was very proud of the fact that his was one, of only 168 in the world. One of the things he was known for was his ability to catch bad grammar and misspelled words which, was the reason he became known as the “Grammar Nazi” on Facebook. Janice will never forget the way Duane would always remind her to “Slow down and stop running,” his easygoing pace was always her balancing force. She will also miss him begging her to make him a yellow cake with chocolate frosting as a late-night snack.

Duane is preceded in death by his parents, Thelma Gressom and Edward Kanar. He is survived by his wife Janice Karen Kanar, sons Jason (Darcy) Kanar, James Kanar, daughters Christina Flatt, Jessica (Rodney) Zonnefeld, sisters Karen and Val (Sue Schenk) Kanar and 10 grandchildren.