FRANCIS WENDELL DUVALL

Two weeks ago, I noticed that Frank Duvall was born in July of 1926. I wondered if he was the most recent numiscentenarian. This is a story with some big gaps. To learn more, read on.

I believe Frank W. DuVall was born in Arkansas on July 16, 1926. I believe he graduated from Benton High School. His parents may have been Frank and Irma. Some early records are unreliable. This is the first gap in the story.

Frank was an aviation cadet in the U. S. Army near the end of World War II. He attended the University of Arkansas during 1946 to 1949 and received a B. S. in electrical engineering.

His obituary has the cryptic comment, "Frank made significant contributions to successful "Cold War" activities at the DOD." He worked for the Department of Defense for 27 years in "Rocket City," Huntsville, Alabama. One title was chief long range planning, research and development, Army missile command. That sounds impressive. What happened during this time is the next gap in the story.

In 1986 he was a director of American Investors Trust Company and affiliated with Trans- Southern Company.

He was married to Kathryn Josephine "Jo" Coffin in Saline, Arkansas, on August 21, 1948. They had two sons and a daughter and were married for 76 years.

Frank joined the ANA in December 1974 as member R-83268. DuVall lectured and exhibited at ANA conventions.

He was a founder of the Society for U. S. Commemorative Coins. He served as secretary in 1983 and as the president of the club in August 1985 to August 1986. He received life membership No. 1 in 1986. The club disbanded around 2011.

Duvall served on the board of the Alabama Numismatic Society for 1986-1989.

In the Fall 1998 issue of The Commemorative Trail, Duval announced that he had discovered a new variety of the Lafayette Dollar designated as DuVall 4-E. with the fourth obverse and fifth reverse. The coin was offered with his collection of commemorative coins in the Heritage ANA sale of August 9, 2007, as lot 2090. The piece realized $18,400.

An obituary stated, "he also was the author of over 40 books on gravity, calculus, physics and religion." One was New Gravitational Physics: Convergence of Science and Religion (2023). His body of work may have included advances in science. There is probably a story in each of these books.

Late in life, Duvall lectured on scientific concepts. He made a presentation on May 3, 2015, at the Main Huntsville Library on "A Universal Theory of Gravitational Physics." The lecture was described as "simply explained." I wish I could have attended.

Frank DuVall died on January 9, 2025, at the age of 98 years and six months. He fell short of 100 by a gap of eighteen months.

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