Heather Marie Duncan

Heather Marie Duncan — our Hedy-Ree, Heifer, or as a friend recently nicknamed her, a sweeter-sort-of-Appalachian-Regina George — passed away on April 15th, 2023, in Madisonville, Tennessee. She was 36 years old.

Heather was a new year’s baby, born in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on Jan. 1, 1987, just 23 minutes after midnight. Until she was 7, Heather thought the whole world celebrated her birthday with her. She grew up across the Southeastern United States, with the exception of a three-year stint in Hawaii, where she saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time at 8 weeks old. Heather graduated from Maryville High School in 2005. She went on to intern at WATE-TV as one of the state’s youngest broadcast journalists before becoming a certified personal trainer.

Heather loved her family and friends, especially her mom, Sammi Rosen; her little sister, Tarani Duncan; and her stepdad, Lenny Rosen, whom she called “her sunshine.” Heather’s friends describe her as fiercely loyal, silly and encouraging. Taking after her mom, Heather enjoyed choreographing sassy line dances to Top 40 hits. She loved cheerleading, working out to Tae Bo tapes, and eating Subs n Such turkey pitas, sometimes twice a day. On any given day in 2003, Heather could be seen cruising around Maryville in her iridescent purple Volkswagen beetle, blasting “Toxic” by Britney Spears, with her little sister hiding in the trunk — for fun!

The last 18 years of Heather’s life were tragic. She experienced a mental health crisis during her sophomore year at the University of Tennessee that remained unresolved, leading to struggles with addiction and her untimely death at 36. For many, the most devastating and terrifying part of Heather’s mental health struggle is realizing how abruptly bad things can happen to excellent people.

After nearly two decades of immense generosity from individual therapists, friends, doctors, social workers, police officers and strangers, we realize our current approach to rehabilitating wounded people is shockingly insufficient. Our unwillingness to create better support structures for the suffering comes from the delusional story that bad things happen to people because they deserve what happens to them. This kind of short-sighted thinking protects our feelings and sense of security in the short term, but it is an attitude that excuses the murder of millions of people like Heather each year. Without a doubt, with better preventive supports in place, our Heather would be alive and thriving today.

Heather is preceded in death by her sweet grandfather, Samuel Elliott; her goofy father, Terry Duncan; her loving mammaw, Freida Wimbish; her doting aunt, Michelle Ketron; and many other friends.

Heather is survived by her beloved mother Samantha Rosen; her “sunshine”/step-father, Lenny Rosen; her sissy, Tarani Duncan; her brothers, Keith and David Rosen; her sister-in-laws, Hannah and Masami Rosen; her niece, Maple; her nephew, Rio; her grandparents, Nancy Berrong, Tom Berrong, Bill Wimbish; and many other family members and friends whom Heather greatly adored.

On Sunday evenings in the early aughts, Heather would take Montvale up to the Foothills Fire Tower where she would watch the valley’s twinkling lights, listening to her notorious collection of burnt CDs along the way. One especially dark winter night, Heather played “A Long December” by the Counting Crows. Smiling at Tarani, Heather cut the headlights as they hit a long straight-away — the two of them floating through the darkness together. Our Heather had a talent for expressing her emotions through gestures like these, giving us so many special moments that are just too big for words.

Heather will be honored in a series of informal gatherings between her close family and friends in the coming days. Please honor her in ways that will best benefit you and those you love in whatever way you see fit.