By Phil Webber
“If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it. The more things you do, the more you can do.” Attributed to the late comedienne Lucille Ball, this is an apt quote for Eastman’s Duncan Wood, whose list of accomplishments as a community volunteer is no laughing matter. Duncan is serving on or has served on Eastman Community Association’s (ECA) Walk Bike Steering Committee, Capital Improvements Committee, and the recent Retired Lots and Environmental Risks Task Forces, as well as chairing the Common Properties Committee. In addition, he serves as a commissioner of the Village District of Eastman (VDE), the utility that provides water and wastewater services to the community. Wow!
Duncan Wood in the VDE Plant / Sally Wood
Duncan grew up in western New York state and studied at Dartmouth College, primarily so he could easily ski after classes. After earning an engineering degree, he secured a slot at the U.S. Navy Officers Candidate School for the Civil Engineering Corps. In 1971, he married Sally, whom he met on a blind date during the spring of his senior year, and soon thereafter they moved to Guam. Following his stint in the Navy, Duncan returned to school in Boston for a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Master of Business Administration from Northeastern University. For roughly 40-plus years, Duncan was an engineering consultant, working on the design and permitting of many of New England’s largest real estate projects, focusing on drainage, water supply, wastewater disposal, and migration of contaminated groundwater.
Duncan and Sally bought a condo in Eastman in 2001 and moved to the community full time in 2005. How did he start volunteering? A neighbor learned about his background in water resources and suggested he get involved with the VDE. Ten years later, he’s still a VDE commissioner.
When asked why he does it, Duncan gives several answers, the most revealing of which is it “gives him something to do when he gets up in the morning.” In keeping with the nononsense character of his chosen career, he states simply that he volunteers because he was asked to fill specific roles and he could contribute his skills and time. He merely wants to give something back to the community that he and Sally had chosen for this phase of their lives. Based on lessons he learned from his mother, he decided early in life that the best way to become part of a community is to volunteer. It provides Duncan with a sense of belonging and makes Eastman feel more like home versus just a place he’s passing through.
Based on lessons he learned from his mother, he decided early in life that the best way to become part of a community is to volunteer. It provides Duncan with a sense of belonging and makes Eastman feel more like home versus just a place he’s passing through.
Like many other volunteers, Duncan has enjoyed meeting many people in Eastman and most of his social interactions are with people he’s met on various committees. Asked what he’d tell other Eastmanites who are thinking of volunteering, Duncan replied that it’s not only a great way to meet people and a way to get involved in the community, but it also gives you a much greater appreciation of where your assessments go.
Duncan is very complimentary of the ECA staff, especially Chief Maintenance Officer Mike Gornnert, with whom Duncan, as chair of the Common Properties Committee, interacts on a regular basis to advocate for the maintenance, repair, and enhancement of most of Eastman’s infrastructure. He feels the staff reorganization by General Manager Ken Ryder in 2014 has allowed the entire team to focus its strengths and work together more efficiently. There are challenges which Duncan says exist in any form of government, including ECA—the primary one being helping people to understand why money is needed to maintain their community’s assets. He knows of what he speaks.
Prior to moving to Eastman, Duncan spent six years on his town’s Planning Board, five more on the Zoning Board of Appeal, and 10 years on the town’s School Building Committee, as well as 10 years on the Finance Committee and Building Committee of his church. He acknowledges that it’s easier to get funds approved for things people can see, like a new building, than for something not readily visible, such as a drainage culvert or sewage lift station that needs to be replaced. He admits that he has sometimes been discouraged by how few people in any community understand where the water in their faucets comes from, or where their wastewater goes after they flush.
Duncan is very passionate about what he’d like to see accomplished in Eastman in the next few years. His goal is to achieve a higher degree of quality, reliability, and documentation with VDE’s water and wastewater systems, and the ECA’s maintenance facility on Greensward Drive.
While the community has reaped invaluable benefits from Duncan’s technical knowledge and project management skills, it’s his attitude and demeanor that set him apart. He is often the first to raise his hand to do more menial tasks. He will take minutes at meetings, rewrite committee charters, and do the “routine stuff” that goes unheralded but is vital to a sustainable community. While highly sought for projects and committees as an expert in the mechanics and layout of the common properties that span Eastman’s 3,600 acres, Duncan rarely imposes his knowledge on the groups he joins, but is quick to offer input in his signature calm manner and modulated voice. He has a reputation for being a “straight shooter” and is, without fail, armedwith facts and figures. His participation in working groups is reminiscent of the E.F. Hutton commercials in the 1980s: when Duncan speaks, people listen.
When not attending committee meetings or poring over spreadsheets or blueprints, Duncan can be found skiing, sailing, learning to play golf, and traveling the world with Sally. Duncan told me: “I feel very fortunate that we found this place to retire to.” To which many would say, Eastman is equally fortunate that Duncan and Sally found this place!
Phil Webber is a 20+ year resident of Eastman and past president of the ECA Board of Directors. This is the second of a series of articles is writing about Eastman’s volunteers.
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