Parcourez la nécrologie de Cleone Lorena Duncan August 19 1926

December 20 2024 résidant dans la province Ontario pour le détail des funérailles.
Cleone Lorena Duncan Obituary
Cleone Lorena Duncan – Obituary
Cleone Lorena Duncan – August 19th, 1926 – December 20th, 2024
Oh, what a life she squeezed into her 98 years! Cleone and her two brothers, Ralph and Barrie, were born and grew up in Calgary, Alberta, and even when Cleone was a young girl it was clear to everyone who knew her that music and singing would be her life’s passion. She studied voice, sang in church choirs, at weddings and funerals, competed in singing competitions, hosted her own radio show called “Cleone Sings”, and by her mid-teens, when she’d gone about as far as she could go in Calgary, she headed south to continue her classical voice training in Los Angeles. There she established a successful singing career. She performed in opera, operetta and musical theatre, she sang for all the big movie studios, and she met her first husband, Paul Howard Jenkins. Paul was a wonderful tenor and they sang together all over California, culminating in their own club act in Vegas. Cleone loved to tell the story that it was while singing on the film score for the film “The Gift of Love” that she went into labour, and soon after delivered their daughter, Leslie Arden Jenkins.
In 1961, Paul was offered a job in production at CFTO in Toronto, and Cleone followed him back to Canada with their daughter in tow. Unfortunately the marriage didn’t last, but Cleone wasted no time in establishing herself as a highly sought after singer in Toronto, working extensively with CBC as one of the Mice on The Juliette Show, on Hymn Sing, The Tommy Hunter Show, The Hit Parade, The Wayne and Shuster Show, and she was given her own CBC radio show, “This Is Cleone”. She also sang with The Carl Tapscott Singers, The Gino Silvi Singers, The Festival Singers and The Ivan Romanoff Chorus. It was during this busy time that she met her second husband, the basso profundo Don Parrish, whom you may remember as the host of the popular CHFI radio show, Candlelight and Wine. Don had three children from his previous marriage, Alan, Barbara and Kathryn, whom Cleone grew to love dearly, especially Kate, with whom she developed a special bond.
It was while Cleone performed with The Charlottetown Festival (1969 – 1989) that she spent some of her happiest and most productive years, for not only was she performing on the Festival’s stage, she began to teach singing to many of our country’s finest performers. It was also in Charlottetown where Cleone met Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Prince Andrew and Fergie, and she shared a glass of wine with PM Pierre Trudeau.
In 1985 her husband suffered a series of strokes, so Cleone retired to care for him until his death in 1996. Cleone travelled extensively for the next twenty-some years, until she moved to Kingsmere Retirement Home in Alliston, ON at the age of 91. There she happily spent her last seven years, ten minutes away from her daughter, Leslie, and oh, she was sharp as a tack up to her dying day at the age of 98!
Cleone’s impact on Canadian Musical Theatre will reverberate for generations to come, and she will be profoundly missed by her loving family, her grateful students and her many, many dear friends.
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August 19 1926

December 20 2024

thomas funeral home

Décès pour la Ville:Alliston, Province: Ontario

avis deces Cleone Lorena Duncan August 19 1926

December 20 2024

nécrologie Cleone Lorena Duncan August 19 1926

December 20 2024

Nous offrons nos plus sincères condoléances à la famille et aux amis de Cleone Lorena Duncan August 19 1926

December 20 2024 et espérons que leur mémoire pourra être une source de réconfort pendant cette période difficile. Vos pensées et vos mots aimables sont grandement appréciés.