Hurricane Baptist member aids neighbors with 4-wheeler, ice

What are friends for?”

That’s the philosophy that drove Randy Duncan to spend countless hours making ice and delivering it to his neighbors following Hurricane Ivan’s wrath. That’s the sentiment that drove him to go from house to house to house, checking on his friends, maintaining their generators, and ensuring that all was well in spite of Hurricane Ivan’s assault on Choctaw County — which left countless residents without electricity for more than a week.

But neighbors say it’s more than  friendship. They say it comes from a man who would sacrifice everything for the sake of someone else.

Duncan and his neighbors, ironically, live in a community called Hurricane, a remote area in the southern portion of Choctaw County. Hurricane Baptist Church, Choctaw Association, is the focal point of much of the community’s life — a community that is collectively praising the actions of one of its own.

“Randy Duncan has been an angel to us,” said neighbor Carvel Richard. “We call him our ‘angel on a 4-wheeler.’”

Duncan, 47, has multiple health problems. He has had three strokes, three heart attacks, has a pacemaker, wears a brace on his leg and suffers seizures on a regular basis. “Because of his seizures, he can’t drive a car,” explained Richard. “But that didn’t stop him. He  got on his 4-wheeler and went from house to house helping everyone.”

Although the effort took a toll on his health, he trudged throughout the neighborhood and delivered ice to at least 18 families.

In a community where Hurricane is an everyday word and neighborly love abounds, Duncan and his neighbors are now working to get their lives back to normal following the storm.

And they are doing it together.