Brenda Nell Duquette

Brenda was born on April 24, 1943, in Bloomer, Arkansas to Olen and Joyce Burch. She grew up in Oklahoma and graduated from Classen High School in 1961. At the age of 18, she met her husband, James Duquette, on a blind date at the Oklahoma State Fair while he was stationed in Altus, and they married just three months later. She was a loving and dedicated military wife and mother to their daughters, Carrie and Lori. She and James were married for 62 years.

Brenda took great pride in the keeping of her home and loved cooking, baking, and hosting for the holidays. She enjoyed sewing and crafts, memorably working tirelessly one Halloween to make two of her granddaughters’ matching Pink Power Ranger costumes (an epic story that has been recounted many times in the decades since). She and James not only traveled the world during his active duty years, but in retirement, they also took many road trips in their RV exploring the continental US, with the occasional excursion to Mexico.

Resilient and unyielding in the face of overwhelming hardship, Brenda fought and survived five separate diagnoses of cancer in her lifetime. She was tenacious, independent, clever, and kind; a true matriarch lost, but whose memory will live on forever through her family. She is survived by her two daughters, Carrie (Charlie) Newnam and Lori (Stephen) Rakonza, five grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, a brother, Gary (Louis) Burch, one niece and one nephew, and many dear friends.

She is preceded in death by her husband, James Duquette.

She will be buried next to James at Arlington Memorial Gardens in Midwest City, Oklahoma on Friday, December 22, 2023.