Frank Duffy's funeral - January 8th

A family member has asked me to post the funeral arrangements for Frank Duffy.

Frank's funeral will take place this Saturday, January 8th, at 9.30am in the Falkland Parish church with interment at Falkland Cemetery at 10.45am.   Thereafter to Falkland Village Hall for lunch and refreshments and a chance to all meet up and celebrate his life.

Funeral for Frank Duffy December 30 - updated

Update 2.20PM PST - Wednesday December 29 - I have received an email saying that the funeral has been delayed, possibly until January 12. When I have more information, I will post it here.

Original post - Frank Duffy’s funeral is due to take place in Falkland Church (Scotland) on Thursday, December 30, at 10.30am before interment at the village cemetery at 11.45am.

Family and local reaction to his death can be read in this report from Fife Today.

Frank Duffy suicide before court appearance

Jamie Beatson of the Scotsman.com reports that Frank Duffy took his own life, setting himself and his car alight in a car park prior to a scheduled bail hearing, after previously being arrested in connection with sex offences.

A court source said: "As far as we know he was accused of offences against young girls." The offences are alleged to have occurred between January 2000 and November 2010.

Read the report

Frank Duffy dead at 51: "the first wheelchair curling superstar"

Frank Duffy - 1959-2010
[photo courtest Bob Cown's blog]

I received some very sad news this morning. Frank Duffy died suddenly.

"In my eyes he was the 1st wheelchair 'superstar'  I will miss him an awful lot," Michael McCreadie wrote in an email.

Frank was born in 1959 and was first introduced to the sport of curling at age 12 on a frozen pond in Falkland in Fife. When he was 35, a 12 foot fall from a ladder left him with an L1 spinal cord injury and life in a wheelchair.

He had been a skilled curler before his injury and was involved in Scottish wheelchair curling from the beginning, skipping Scotland to two World Championship titles in 2004 and 2005 followed by a silver medal at the 2006 Paralympic Winter Games.

He also won many domestic championships and Sportsmanship Awards, coached at WCF camps, and following his retirement from international curling in 2006, chaired the Scottish Wheelchair Curling Association (2006-2008) and was a Director for British Curling from 2007-2010.

I met Frank at the Kelowna Cashspiel in 2005, which he won. He was a gentleman, soft-spoken but disciplined. I had, as an event organizer, staked out some wheelchair accessible refreshment venues, but Frank disapproved. He told me the game (back then) was one of draws and taps. Ironic that the iconic image of his career will be his look of anguish as he sees his Torino gold medal take-out shot miss by millimeters.

Angie Malone comforts her skip, Frank Duffy, after the last shot in Torino, 2006

Frank was someone who put into the sport more than he took out, working not just when the cameras and note-pads were out, but serving to develop and direct the sport he loved.

He will be missed.