Duane Ryan’s Obituary, Death Cause – On the early morning hours of April 6, 2023, at his residence in Portales, New Mexico, Duane W. Ryan was liberated from his earthly body. He passed away at that time. He had a vigorous and long life of 90 years until the final few months of his life, when he succumbed to pancreatic cancer. He accepted his coming demise with good humour, a sense of dignity, and above all, appreciation for the wonderful life he had lived.
El Camino Junior College, which is located in Torrance, California, was where he received his education, and he was chosen president of the student body there. After that, he made the decision to attend Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where he eventually graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in Speech and Dramatic Arts. During the time that he was attending college in California, Duane was the owner of a Foster’s Freeze business and worked there.
When he was out selling ice cream one day, he made the acquaintance of a lovely woman with auburn hair named Martha Ann Christensen. They were united in marriage on April 3, 1959, in the temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah. Both were vital members of the BYU theatre community and appeared in a number of productions together during their time there. The newlywed couple came to Ephraim, Utah, right after they graduated from college despite the fact that it was difficult to locate a decent taco in the area during the 1960s. Martha made use of her exceptional sewing talents to construct costumes for the performances that Duane directed at Snow College, where she was a professor in the department of Theatre and Communications.
San Peters County was the birthplace of four out of the couple’s five children. In 1967, when ENMU called, Duane answered the call and moved his family to the high plains of Eastern New Mexico, where there was an endless supply of the tastiest tacos! He began his career as an assistant professor in theatre and speech, during which he directed a large number of plays and taught courses in speech and communications. Soon after, Duane collaborated with a core group of coworkers who were both creative and devoted in order to establish KENW-FM, Public Radio on the ENMU campus. He did this by combining his knowledge of technology with his passion for the arts.
His entire life has been dedicated to KENW. A few days before he passed away, he participated in the weekly staff meeting that took place on Monday by calling in and working on his laptop from a faraway location. A memorial service for the family will be performed at the gravesite in the Heber City Cemetery in Heber, Utah. On the occasion of his 91st birthday, which is on May 23, 2023, a public memorial ceremony will be held at 2:30 p.m. in the Eastern New Mexico University Theatre, which is located on the ENMU Campus in Portales, New Mexico 8130.
