Jocquelyn Lois Duncan

Jocquelyn was born on Sept 19, 1946 in Seattle, WA. She was the second born child to James and Bertha Jinkens. She and her sisters grew up in the Central District on Empire Way. From an early age, Jocquelyn was admired for her endearing friendships and the way she cared for others. Her first job was at the Rhodes Grocery Store, a small Black-owned business, where she first began connecting with and serving her community.

Jocquelyn attended Horace Mann Elementary, Meany Middle School and then graduated from Garfield High School in 1964. She married her high school sweetheart, David E. Duncan, and they raised three beautiful children together. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Antioch University Seattle.

She worked for Casey Family Programs for 31 years, and retired as the director of Board Affairs and Special Initiatives in January 2011. While working professionally, she was active in her beloved church, People’s Institutional Baptist Church (PIBC) in Seattle’s Central District. A devoted church member, she served on many committees and assisted church leadership in moving from a paper accounting system to a digital best practice system. A reflection of her commitment to community and educational opportunities, she founded the PIBC Annual Educational Resource Street Fair to serve the surrounding community, children and families to ensure students had a strong start to the school year. The Street Fair served hundreds of youth and families, providing backpacks, school supplies, clothing, books, dental care and haircuts. Although an annual end-of-summer community event, Jocquelyn worked year-round to procure funds, donations and develop critical community partnerships to support the fair. As the Street Fair grew over the years, Jocquelyn was able to work with various agencies to ensure access to social services were available on-site to meet the needs of the community.

In 2011, she partnered with Seattle Public Schools to secure a Central District school building to start a non-profit community school to provide an innovative educational program for under-served students. The Horace Mann school building became the home to Jocquelyn’s Work-It-Out Seattle non-profit. Youth were provided access to computer and technology courses, leadership development, and farm to table community gardening. A true testament to her deep commitment to serving community in collaboration with others, once Jocquelyn founded Work-It-Out Seattle, she had garnered the support of Microsoft and other corporations to improve the physical space and advance the work of the school.

Jocquelyn was phenomenally talented and endlessly generous. Her life is a testament to her devotion to God, her warm heart, and God’s loving spirit that she shared with others.

Jocquelyn is survived by her beloved daughter, Bridgette Johnson (Kevin) and her two devoted sons David Duncan and Demetrius Duncan; her sisters, Evelyn Jones (Harold), Charelyn Stennis, Rosalyn Jinkens, Gwendolyn Gainer (John); her grandchildren, David Duncan III, Pierre Duncan, Demetrius Duncan II, Adrienne Johnson, and Kaylah Duncan. She is blessed with a host of beloved nieces, nephews, cousins, and many other relatives and dear friends.