Duane Edward Atcheson (2010)

ATCHESON, CLARK

Posted By: Mary Welty Hart (email)
Date: 5/13/2010 at 16:33:29

Winterset Madisonian, Winterset, Iowa
May 12, 2010

DUANE EDWARD ATCHESON, Mission, Texas

Duane Edward Atcheson of Patterson, Iowa, and Mission, Texas, passed away of myocardial infarction on April 9, 2010, in Mission, Texas. He was 69 years old.

Duane was famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s on the independent drag racing circuit in Iowa and Illinois for his exploits behind the wheel of the “MaxiBrute,” which he took to speeds of over 130 mph on a 1/8 mile track. The 1/8 mile track record he set in Eddyville, Iowa, in the late 1960s of 5.1 seconds has yet to be beaten. Duane moved his family to Clark County, Iowa, in the early 1970s to begin a new life at farming. After giving farming a go, Duane and his wife, Marilynn, opened a restaurant and dance hall, the Millerton Inn, around 1978 in Millerton, Iowa. It was a great success until it was destroyed by fire in 1985. That was their signal to move to the “Big Country” of Texas.

After leaving Millerton, Iowa, Duane and his family, including their daughter, Lynn, moved to the metropolitan Houston, Texas, area and opened a succession of successful delis in Houston and Simonton, Texas. Duane retired in the early 2000s after selling his last delis. He then spent many summers in Iowa near his family and friends, and winters in Mission, Texas, with the many friends he came to know and horse around with over the years.

Duane truly enjoyed playing golf and gambling in casinos for many years. He once won over $130,000 in a single hand of Caribbean Poker in Kansas City, Mo. He also enjoyed golf with his many friends and gambling in Las Vegas and Atlantic City and took trips in his motor home across the U.S. with his beloved wife, Marilynn.

Duane Atcheson is survived by his wife, Marilynn, with whom he would have celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on April 16, 2010. He also is survived by his sons — Richard (Pearland, Texas), Alan (Olathe, Kan.), Robert (Washington, D.C.), and Troy (Olathe, Kan.); and his daughter, Lynn (Seattle, Wash.), as well as numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He also is survived by his mother-in-law, Madelyn Clark (Des Moines, Iowa); his sister, Sheryl (Osceola, Iowa); and his brothers, Orian (Chariton, Iowa), Kenneth (Woodland, Maine), and Rick (Urbandale, Iowa). Duane was preceded in death by his brother, Ron, of Leawood, Kan.

Expressions of sympathy can be sent to Marilynn Atcheson, 2401 North Abram, #187, Mission, Texas.