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Aaron Duenke’s mother, Sherry Ford, tells people that she remembers that they thought “something is wrong” before she disappears while the ice surfs on the Missouri River in 2022.
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According to Ford, when their father disappeared, his two children were “absolutely greased”
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Now that his remains are finally found, Ford reveals how she was able to find some form of comfort in the fact that he died on a river that he loved
When Sherry Ford left work two days after Christmas in 2022, she had the feeling that “something was wrong” with her son Aaron Duenke.
Hours before, during his lunch break, the health worker saw his 34-year-old son on Facebook Live that he would travel on the Missouri River on the Ice Block. It was not a whole new Duenke territory, a nature lover and the search adventures from Washington, Mo.-He was successfully out in ice, browsing the previous year.
“I think I published something like” Oh, God, Aaron, I hate when you do it, “says Ford, 57, he tells people. “It was my last communication with him.”
When Ford left the neurology clinic at 16:30 local time, she was worried because she hadn’t heard from him. “It just hit me suddenly that Aaron came out on the ice,” she says. “And so I tried to call him and did not receive an answer.”
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After many unsuccessful attempts, Ford managed to reach his mother, who had to take Duenke, and learned that he had never appeared.
What followed was a weekly search and then more than two years of waiting for answers before some of her son’s remains were opened on Sunday, April 13, along the river near Chesterfield, according to the Missouri Highway Patrol. The service of the medical examination of St. Louis County confirmed the identity of the deceased five days later.
With the kind assistance of Sherry Ford
Aaron (in the center) and Brooke Duenke (left) with his two children
The summer before his death, Aaron took the season to spend time with his children, son Lucas, who is already 11 years old, and daughter Lola, now at 9. They were traveling, camping and playing outside all summer.
According to Ford, when their father disappeared, the children were “absolutely crushed”.
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With the kind assistance of Sherry Ford
Brooke, Aaron, Lola and Lucas Duenke
Ford’s best friend, Becky Boucher, who organizes Gofundme to support Duenke’s children, says the days after his disappearance were “very difficult”. She was on the phone every day with Ford those initial weeks who wanted to be “strong” for everyone else.
“You hope for the best and just prepare for the worst,” says Boucher, who describes Duenke as a man with the “most big heart”.
With the kind assistance of Sherry Ford
Aaron Duenke on the water
As he grew up in St. Louis County, Duenke struggles to have a spina bifida and was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder – but he found comfort outdoors.
A self -employed craftsman, Aaron, rehabilitated houses, made his own boards for paddles and competes in the MR340, 340 miles of nonstop race on the Missouri River. During a competition, Duenke took the time to travel with a more adult man Jim, who has never participated in the competition before. When they reached the finals, Duenke competed forward so that the other competitor finished last to provide the comforting award for a hand-carved paddle.
“He just wanted to make sure Jim could get to the end of being safe,” Ford says. “He just always thought of the joy of other people.”
While Dunke’s family moves with a new wave of grief, his kindness is in the foreground. He has four surviving siblings. His bigger brother Curtis was like his “twin”, their mother says.
“He was an exceptional dad who showed that his children’s life was for his family and adventure,” Curtis says to People. “He had an insatiable desire to get into nature and explore. It was hard to keep up, but also a great listener and a kind. A kind friend to the people he met.”
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As a result of Duenke’s death, his children moved to Arizona with their mother Brooke Duenke to be closer to Brooke’s mother.
As they settle in a new life without their father, Ford also moves with life without her “best friend”. But Ford found comfort in the fact that Duenke had died on the river that he loved so expensive. “It was just another adventure,” Ford says.
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