WHO TO KNOW

Shelia & John Lester
Duggan’s Seafood

By Cheree Franco
Photo by Erin Fults

In 1973, when Laura and Earl “Duggie” Duggan parked their truck at Deville Plaza, they didn’t realize they were initiating a tradition of food and fellowship that would span generations.

“It’s the freshest seafood around,” their successor, John Lester, explains. “We pick it up from the coast Wednesday afternoon. The oysters were shucked, and the shrimp caught that morning. So if you come to the truck on Thursday, it’s less than 24 hours old.”

Like many customers, John first met Duggie when his mother dragged him along on Saturday errands. Duggie was fourteen years his senior, but something about the man’s friendliness and generosity struck a chord with the boy who’d lost his father a decade earlier. In many ways, Duggie became a surrogate father to John. Over the years, the men worked together in the seafood truck, hosted dinners, and split teaching duties at an Everyday Gourmet cooking class.

With the addition of John’s wife Shelia and her daughter Sydney, the circle widened. Now 23, Sydney spent her teenage summers working the truck. Customers who grew up on Duggan’s Seafood brought their own children to be served by a new generation of the “extended” Duggan family.

But in 2006, Duggie was diagnosed with cancer. During his treatment, the Lesters kept the business running smoothly. “Then one day, Duggie’s daughter came to me, papers in hand, and said, ‘it would make our family happy if you’d buy the business,’ ” John recalls. An IT network consultant, John already had a thriving career. But he loved the Duggans, and he loved the business. He couldn’t say no.

The next year opened with a string of difficulties. In February 2007, John was diagnosed with the same cancer that Duggie had been battling for months. John’s treatment was successful, but Duggie’s cancer metastasized quickly. In June, only two months after burying his mother, John found himself a pallbearer at a second funeral.

“I’ve been fortunate to have the business. The customers were concerned about Duggie, and they’ve been concerned about me. If Shelia’s missing in action one day, they say, ‘what’s going on, can we help?’”

John fingers his LiveStrong wristband, adding, “It has to be about profit, but we don’t want it to just be about profit. We like personal touches—on a birthday or anniversary, maybe weigh up six pounds of shrimp and charge for five. Literally and metaphorically, I probably gain back 100 times what I ‘lost’ on that sale.” Smiling, he cracks, “Sometimes you’ve got to ‘sea’ past the trees.” o

Duggan’s Seafood is in the Deville Plaza parking lot Thurs - Sat., 10-6.