Family remembers Duncan as selfless, beloved by all
By October 2024, Bradey Duncan’s life seemed to be firing on all cylinders. At 21, he was holding a steady job at a local Dollar General, he already had job experience at a nonprofit in Butler and he had just picked up his driver’s license.
Most importantly, Bradey had the near-unanimous respect and admiration of those he met.
“Everybody that he came in contact with ... they just loved him,” said Deborah Duncan, Bradey’s grandmother. “He was a people person. So many people have come up to me and said how much he meant to them.”
Deborah was both Bradey’s grandmother and his legal guardian, as both of his parents were out of his life.
“His mother died eight years ago,” Deborah said. “His father was never in his picture. Never.”
She legally adopted him in 2006.
It was Sunday, Oct. 20, when Deborah Duncan read something on Facebook that caught her attention: There had been a motor vehicle accident on Clearfield Road.
At the time, she didn’t think anything of it. She assumed that her grandson, Bradey, had gone to work at the nearby Dollar General as normal and would be back home soon.
“I thought, ‘Well, I'm just going to call Bradey and just make sure he's at work,’” Deborah said. “So I called, but he didn't answer. But that wasn't unusual, cause if he's busy, he wouldn't answer me for a little while.”
As it turned out, Bradey never showed up for work. His car swerved off Clearfield Road on Sunday afternoon and went airborne.
Deborah was brought to the scene by Bradey’s boss, who broke the news to her at her home.
“I had them take me up there,” Deborah said. “A police officer came over and handed me Bradey’s phone and said that he did pass away.”
Deborah described Bradey as someone with a selfless and caring heart in every phase of his life.
“He just cared. He cared about people,” Deborah said. “He was always trying to help somebody at the store. The older people would go in and he would, you know, tell them what they wanted or what they're looking for.”
This was especially the case for when he worked at Breakthrough Butler, a nonprofit organization that provides a safe space for youth to participate in activities. This occurred between stints working at Dollar General on Clearfield Road.
“He went to work for (Breakthrough Butler founder) Nick Yannotty to help underprivileged children,” Deborah said. “Bradey worked there close to a year, and he would walk all these kids to school that couldn't go to school, and then he'd go back and pick them all up. And there were seven or eight of them.”
During his time at Breakthrough, Bradey worked as a camp counselor for two summers and also helped manage the organization’s before- and after-school programs. Yannotty remembers Duncan as someone who was fervent about his work at Breakthrough.
“He was very passionate about having it be a safe place that's truly welcome for all to use, regardless of background or where they're coming from,” Yannotty said. “He was able to relate to every group of kids. It didn't matter if they came from two parents that were well-off financially and they played five different sports, or if they came from a one-parent household. Bradey genuinely cared about each kid.”
Bradey eventually left Breakthrough to return to work at Dollar General, as it paid more and was closer to home. Although Bradey had left a year prior to the accident, the children from Breakthrough who knew him, as well as their parents, were especially devastated to hear what happened.
“Some of the kids are really taking it rough, and he hasn't been in there for a year,” Deborah said. “One mother said she doesn't think she can tell her son for a while because he'll just lose it.”
