John Duncklee was born in 1929. When he was twelve years old, he was sent to school outside Tucson, where he fell in love with the idea of becoming a cowboy and learning Spanish. After spending four years in the Navy during the Korean War, he returned to southern Arizona and entered the cattle ranching business. After suffering through a prolonged drought in the 1950's, he sold his first ranch and started to raise Mexican steers and quarter horses at a ranch near Nogales, Arizona.
He earned a Master's degree in Geography from the University of Arizona and taught there for a year and a half; he then went on to earn a Ph.D. in Geography from UCLA, and accepted a faculty postion at NAU. While in Flagstaff he got involved in the fight to save the San Francisco Peaks from land developers, and developed an appreciation for Native American beliefs. This eventually helped to provide the inspiration for him to write his first novel.
John left NAU in 1973 and returned to Tucson to write full time. During this period he spent a year teaching at the Universidad de Sonora in Hermosillo, and afterwards became a designer of mesquite wood furniture. He now writes full time, dividing his time between Alpine and Oracle, Arizona. He lives with his wife Penny, who also illustrates many of his books.
From the guide to the John Duncklee Collection, 1969-1974., (Cline Library. Special Collections and Archives Department.)
