Duaine Tack

Our beloved father, grandfather, great-grandfather, brother, nephew, uncle, cousin and friend went home to be with the Lord on Wednesday, April 22, 2009 at the age of 62. Duaine was born August 19, 1946 in Saginaw, Michigan. Born to Duane Russell Farnum and Joyce Eleanor Martin, he was adopted by Clarence Tack at the age of five and always considered him to be his father. He was raised the oldest of four children; James, Richard, and Patricia Tack, and came to know of his other siblings; Lawrence (Dottie), Richard and Patrick Farnum, Gerry Beth (Charles) Buckel and Virginia (Joel) Raymond later in life. He attended Vassar Schools and graduated in 1964. Duaine was affectionately known as AaA"ButchAaA to all who knew and loved him. He married Judy Bullock in March of 1971 and had daughter Katherine Margaret (David) Simpson. They divorced shortly after. He met Rose Germain and had son Brian James Germain. He married Mary Baldwin on May 21, 1977 in Vassar, Michigan. They had four children: Andrea Carol (Hall) Hewett, and Charlana Joy, Brandon Lee Wesley, and Kaylin Marie Tack. Duaine and Mary were married for 15 years, and when they divorced and Mary remarried Eric Sheffer and had Cheyenne Rebecca, he loved Chey like she was one of his own. Duaine had six grandchildren; Melissa (Brandon) Johnson, Shannon (Jeremy) Sanderson, Audrey Groves and Skyela Smith, Hall Robert Hewett III and Chayton Germain. He had three great-grandchildren; MaKayla, Alexa, and Zethyn Johnson. Butch was a jack-of-all-trades. He worked in his younger years at General Motors and spent most of his working career as a Maintenance Superintendent at Caro Senior Commons and Maintenance Manager at Fischer Convalescent Home. After he got his AssociateAaas Degree in 1999 from Great Lakes Junior College for Computer Science, he worked for the unemployment office. He was working at Kaumagraph-Millington when he had a stroke in 2005. He fought back, and although he remained paralyzed and needed 24-hour nursing care at HealthSource-Saginaw, he still had his great sense of humor and love for his family and friends. Butch was an accomplished artist and painted murals at the Vassar Elementary School and Tuscola Community Church. He also loved to sketch people and paint landscapes. Duaine liked to cook and would make AaA"inventionsAaA with whatever he had in the kitchen. He loved playing golf, baseball, cards and board games, and video games with his family. He enjoyed fishing and bowling and loved to sing at karaoke and while driving. He wrote poems and songs and will always be remembered for his songs AaA"Basket RoseAaA and AaA"SnowAaA as well as a few others. He was a huge Detroit sports fan, even through the AaA"rottenAaA years. He loved his family and would always make one-on-one time for his kids to spend their AaA"Day with Dad.AaA Duaine was preceded in death by his parents; his brother, James Tack; sisters, Patricia Tack and Beatrice Randall as well as aunts, uncles and friends. He will be dearly missed by all who knew him, including; his brothers, sisters, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, aunts and uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, in-laws, other relatives and friends. The family would like to extend their appreciation to the doctors and nurses of Covenant Medical Center, as well as a special thanks to the staff at HealthSource-Saginaw for making the last few years comfortable and enjoyable for him. You were like family and meant so much to him as well as us. Memorials may be made to the family. Memorial Celebration held at Martin Funeral Home in Vassar, Michigan at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 29, 2009.