Lloyd T. Duff

Lloyd T. Duff, 92, passed away peacefully at home in Mansfield Center on November 3, 2016, embraced in the love of family and close friends. He was born on May 7, 1924, the son of the late Edward E. and Alice (Towle) Duff, of Lakewood, OH. He shared 65 blissful years of marriage with Gwen M. Duff, who predeceased him in 2013. Lloyd was an alumnus of Lakewood High School in Lakewood, OH, where he lettered in tennis, basketball and track and is a member of the Athletic Hall of Fame. He then attended Oberlin College where he lettered in football, basketball and track in his freshman year. His education was interrupted, as it was for many young men in 1943, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army. He served with the Field Artillery 98th Division in the Pacific Theatre for the remaining years of WWII. After discharge as a 1st Sergeant, he resumed his education, entering The Ohio State University. While there, his athletic versatility was devoted to the track team. He excelled in the hurdle events, as well as the broad jump and pole vault. The high points of his Ohio State athletic career included: high point scorer for all three years; scored 16 points in the 1947 Big 10 Conference Indoor Championships?more than the totals of several competing teams; Captain of the 1948 squad; All-American status in track and field; awarded the Big 10 Conference Medal for Scholarship and Athletics; and runner-up in the U.S. Decathlon Championships of 1946 and ?47. His track career ended abruptly due to a pole vaulting injury just two weeks before the Olympic trials for which he was a favorite in the decathlon to represent the U.S. at the 1948 Olympics. He was enshrined in the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2000. During the 1948 season, he married his high school sweetheart, Gwen Moore. After graduation, they moved to the University of Pittsburgh, where he began his collegiate coaching career. He was assistant track coach for six years at Pitt while also earning a master?s degree in education. In 1954 he and Gwen moved the family to Storrs when Lloyd was appointed head coach of UCONN?s varsity track and cross country teams. He served in that capacity until 1967, at which time he became head of the newly formed Recreation Department where he expanded intramural activities and the use of athletic facilities for students and faculty?including a ski slope, ?Husky Hill.? During this time, as a member of the University Senate he initiated a resolution that resulted in University President Homer Babbidge leading a group of thirty college presidents in a meeting with President Richard Nixon to express their concern about the war in Vietnam. In 1977, he became director of the Emergency Medical Services Training Center. Lloyd also served as UCONN?s golf coach for three years. He retired from UCONN in 1979 to devote full-time energy to Holiday Hill Day Camp and Recreation Center in Mansfield. A life-long summer camper, Lloyd had served in positions at several camps in Michigan and Ohio before moving to Connecticut where he was a village director at YMCA Camp Hazen and the camp manager at Silver Lake Conference Center before fulfilling his dream of founding his own camp. In 1960 he and Gwen established Holiday Hill Day Camp and built it into what is now the region?s oldest and largest summer day camp serving families from all over eastern Connecticut and beyond. Lloyd devoted much energy and took pleasure in quietly contributing through community service. He originated and administered the Mansfield Christmas Fund (now the Mansfield Holiday Fund) in 1969 and guided its initiatives to raise and distribute hundreds of thousands of dollars to needy families for over 40 years. He spearheaded many fund-raising efforts for the Mansfield Lions Club and hosted its annual Fall Festival for nearly 40 years. He worked extensively with the American Red Cross, including being an Instructor Trainer in First Aid, CPR and Water Safety, and was an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) instructor. He trained over a thousand people in first aid and CPR, and over one hundred as instructors. He participated in the National Ski Patrol, achieving a National rating. He started the Mansfield Family Recreation Association in 1972, leading a group of cooperating families in the purchase of the Plumley House, a ski and recreation vacation home in Northfield, VT. Lloyd had a lifelong passion for the game of golf and was a long-time member of the Willimantic Country Club. Lloyd is survived by his three children: Lynn and husband Mark Leu of Prescott, AZ; Robert and wife Jill of East Greenwich, RI; and Wendy and husband Dudley Hamlin of Mansfield Center; as well as his cherished grandchildren: Jamie Keehan; Laura and Graham Duff; and Spencer, Haley and Hunter Hamlin; sisters-in-law, Martha Austin of Tiffin, OH, and Shirley Duff of Cincinnati, OH; and six nephews and a niece. He was predeceased by his sister, Janet Murphy of Fort Worth, TX, and brother E. Roy Duff of Cincinnati, OH. A memorial service is planned for December 4, 2016, at 2:30 PM, at the Storrs Congregational Church, 2 North Eagleville Road, Storrs, CT. Memorial contributions can be made to the American Camp Association?s Gwen and Lloyd Duff Campership Fund, to Windham Area Interfaith Ministries or to UCONN Opera, by check to UCONN, with memo: Attn Constance Rock ? UCONN Opera, and mail to 1295 Storrs Road, Unit 1012, Storrs, CT 06269.Charitable donations may be made to:American Camp Association Gwen and Lloyd Duff Campership FundWeb: https://acacamps.formstack.com/forms/aca_camper_scholarship_program_for_campsWindham Area Interfaith MinistriesWeb: https://waimct.org/donations/cash-donations/UCONN Opera1295 Storrs Rd. Unit 1012, Storrs CT 06269