Published: March 29, 2009 01:02 pm      

Duncan loves Duncan

DAR member makes mark on city with which she shares a name

DUNCAN — Pauline Dowlen Duncan’s name is appropriate. A longtime Duncan resident, the Daughters of the American Revolution daughter of the month so personifies Duncan that she was named Founder’s Day queen for the city’s 108th birthday.

Dowlen is not as old as the city with which she shares a name, however. She was born Nov. 9, 1910, in Byers, Clay County, Texas, to John Wesley Dowlen and Bessie Guthrie Dowlen. The family moved to Temple, Okla., in 1914, and she started to school with her older brother and sister at Valley View when she was only 4 years old. After finishing school in Temple through her junior year, she graduated from Lawton High School in 1930. She was a cheerleader at LHS.

On Aug. 6, 1928, she married Robert Henry Duncan in Wichita Falls, Texas. The couple had a daughter, Robin. Duncan now has a grandson, Todd Robertson, and two great-granddaughters: Cace and Casady.

Duncan graduated from Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Oklahoma State University) in 1946 with a degree in dress design and interior decorating. While still in college, she worked as a student adviser in the office of the dean of home economics, and was also the window display designer at Nina’s dress shop on Campus Corner. She did postgraduate work in dress design at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.

After college, Duncan worked as a designer of women’s sports clothing in St. Louis for three or four years, and also for a shoe manufacturer. She also designed clothing for Justin McCarty in Dallas, Texas, and taught dress design at Southern Methodist University for a year.

In 1952, she came to Duncan and opened Pauline’s Western and Sports Wear store on Oak Avenue. When the high school moved from Ninth and Oak, she moved to Main Street, next door to the Palace Theatre, where she catered more to women’s clothes. She closed the business in 1964 and became manager of the Campus Book Store at Cameron University in Lawton.

Duncan later came back to Duncan and worked for Watkins as a buyer for wedding gifts and fabrics and coordinated wedding showers.

In her “spare” time, Duncan also taught pattern design at Red River Vocational-Technical Center for many years.

On the first day of every school year, first grade through college, her daughter, Robin, had a new outfit to wear that her mother had designed and made.

Duncan has been a member and officer of Beta Sigma Phi, a professional women’s organization, for 66 years. She was a member and officer of the Rose Unit of the Duncan Garden Club for many years, and is a member of the OSU Alumni Association. A member of Saint Paul’s United Methodist Church, Duncan taught 6-year-olds in the church’s after-school program.

On June 12, 1975, Duncan joined DAR. She continued to attend monthly meetings until she went to live at Wilkins Nursing Center.

Duncan’s DAR patriot is William Ragsdale Sr., who was a second lieutenant under Capt. Stephen Coleman in the Virginia Militia. He was born about 1732 in Virginia and died between 1815 and 1820 in Warren County, Kentucky. William was the great-grandson of Godfrey Ragsdale I, who was known to be at Jamestown, Va., as early as 1610.

“March is officially Daughters of the American Revolution ‘Women’s History Month,’ and the Duncan Indian Territory Chapter NSDAR proudly takes this opportunity to acknowledge the outstanding contributions Pauline has made to her family and this community,” said Sherry Peck, regent of the local chapter. “We are honored to have her as a member and also our daughter of the month for March.”