Dr. Connie Hamm Duncanson

MARQUETTE, MI – Dr. Connie Hamm Duncanson passed away peacefully on November 11, 2026, her 86th birthday, following a months-long battle with cancer. She spent her final days at her home overlooking the Chocolay River with her sons, Roy and Calder, by her side. Connie was born November 11, 1940, in Wagner, South Dakota, in a small hospital located above the downtown post office. Her mother had been a school teacher and her father was a farmer, and she and her sister spent their early years on the family farm outside of town. She graduated as valedictorian of Wagner High School in 1958, and that fall began her studies at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion. Back in Wagner during her first summer break, Connie was set up to meet a friend of a friend, Harlyn Hamm. He memorably showed up to meet her in a shirt and tie at the public pool, where she was in her swimwear working as a lifeguard. They married in 1960 when she was 19 on the campus of the University of South Dakota.

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