Duane Thomas Deloach

Duane Thomas DeLoach, 57 years old, passed away on Sunday, January 1, 2017 at Northside Hospital Forsyth in Cumming, GA.

Duane was born April 6, 1959 in Atlanta, GA to the late Floyd and Virginia DeLoach. He was the oldest son of four children. He was preceded in death by his mother, Virginia and father, Floyd. Duane spent his childhood years in the family's home in Doraville, where other family members remain. Toward the end of his 6 month illness, the family home, where both of his brothers live now, was often a refuge for him, and brought a comfort and feeling of "peace and love".

Duane was a 1977 graduate of Sequoyah High School in Doraville. He made childhood friends into "lifetime friends". The stories they shared over the years of their childhood memories will forever be remembered and treasured.

After High School, Duane enrolled in the Army's 82nd Airborne in Fort Bragg, N.C. and participated in various training duties throughout the northern and southern United States. His memories of basic training were ones he often times shared with his boys. One story, in particular, was when his parachute got tangled in mid-air with another person, and with some luck, they both were able to get untangled, and fall from the sky with grace.

Duane married Nancy Jean Kinney in 1990 at Roswell Methodist Church in the Chapel. They had 2 glorious sons, Ryan Thomas DeLoach (25) and Matthew Kinney DeLoach (22), who brought him a lifetime of tremendous joy and laughter. Duane taught both of his sons how to play his favorite lifetime sport, golf. It had become a family tradition, to pass the game down, since Nancy's father, Jack, had taught Duane the game before they were married.

Duane's professional career was served mostly in the print industry working at Pitney Bowes Management Services (15 years), IKON Office Solutions (15 years), Ricoh (3 years), Verizon (1 year) and his final job opportunity at TruGreen, where he had been for 5 months in field sales, before his illness began in June 2016. At IKON, Duane firmly established his print career, and served as National Account Relationship Manager. He provided one on one customer support, unlike any other, and was often praised for his quick responsiveness and knowledge of the business. He assisted some of IKON's largest accounts in the Southeast with any service related questions or issues, and quickly. One of his favorite parts of the job was the travel. He was able to see so many parts of the United States, which he had never visited before, including Boston, San Francisco, Chicago, Minneapolis, Tampa, Seattle and Los Cabos. His boys' first airplane trip was in 2004 to San Francisco on a business trip with his family. Many happy memories!

Duane loved playing golf and eating good food with family and friends. His wide circle of childhood friends and golf buddies was established at a young age in his youth and continued until his death. They stuck together through the good and bad times of life. His strongest friendship was with his brother, Eric, who he loved so deeply. He spent so many final days with Eric at the family home watching sports and movies. Their mutual love of sports, including the Atlanta Falcons games, was always good times spent together during the football season.

Duane leaves to cherish his memory, his loving wife, Nancy (Kinney) DeLoach; children, Ryan Thomas DeLoach and Matthew Kinney DeLoach; one sister, Tracey (DeLoach) Conner; two brothers, Eric DeLoach and Stephen DeLoach; nephews, Justin Conner, Jamison Conner, Connor DeLoach and Jackson DeLoach. Brother in law, Michael Hill and ex-Sister in Law, Edna (Wilson) DeLoach and a host of relatives in North Carolina, Alabama and Georgia along with many devoted friends.

Memorial service will be held on Wednesday, January 18 at 1:00 p.m. at Roswell United Methodist Church in the Chapel, 814 Mimosa Blvd., Roswell, GA 30075. John Gargis, Duane's lifelong friend and Associate Pastor of Fountain City United Methodist Church, will officiate. Family and friends are asked to gather in the Parlor room prior to the service to celebrate Duane's life.