Jim Memmott

After a swim in the pool, the young duck called Lucky hops onto the enclosed porch and eats the blueberries that Nancy Adamus holds in her hand.

Then Nancy’s husband, Dick, picks up Lucky, cradles her in his arms. They are friends, close friends.

“She’s a one-man duck,” Nancy says, explaining the bond that has developed between Lucky and Dick since Lucky was hatched in their house near the end of April.

I go too fast. What brought this young mallard and Dick, an 80-year-old retired science teacher, together? How did Dick and Nancy usher Lucky into this world, and how has Lucky comforted Dick in a difficult time?

The story starts with an egg in the middle of the tarp that covers the pool at the Adamus house in Penfield. The egg appeared at the end of March, just sitting there, the mother duck nowhere to be seen.

Using a pole, Dick retrieved the egg and put it in an incubator he had made similar to the ones he used while teaching science in the city.

Twenty-six days later, the Adamuses saw a hole in the egg’s shell. They heard peeping from inside. The duck was beginning to work its way out. And so it did, with a little assist from Dick, who helped crack open the stiff egg.

The egg membrane had dried, preventing the duck from stretching and moving freely, but Dick knew what to do, as he has taken care of birds since he was a boy. He moistened the membrane; he peeled it back; soon the duck was free to swim.

It needed a name. “We called it Lucky,” Dick says. “It was lucky we found it. It was lucky it survived.”

Dick can add that it was lucky that Lucky has stayed. Though the bird can fly now, she hasn’t yet flown away. Instead, she follows Dick about; walks behind him when they are in the yard; stays close when he gardens.

Though it sounds strange, it would be fair to call Lucky a therapy duck.

In February, before Lucky arrived, a test indicated that Dick might have some internal bleeding. After the duck egg appeared on the pool cover, but before the duck hatched, a colonoscopy revealed a mass in Dick’s intestine.

He had surgery to remove the mass on May 2, a few days after Lucky appeared. Consequently, Lucky was on hand while Dick recuperated from the operation, just as she has been there now that Dick has started chemotherapy.

While Dick sits on the couch, Lucky sits on his lap. While he naps, Lucky naps. “They’re taking care of each other,” Nancy says.

Lucky clearly has it made at the Adamuses. There’s a pool for swimming and diving. There are all the blueberries and crackers she wants. She has a box to sleep in at night.

Nonetheless, Lucky is a duck. Perhaps she will hear the call of the wild. Perhaps she will take wing and leave her Penfield home.

“She can fly off whenever she wants,” Dick says stoically. “When she wants to take off, she can go.”

At least for now, Lucky is at home. Dick picks her up, cradles her in his arm.

They both are at peace.

Remarkable Rochester

Retired Senior Editor Jim Memmott reflects on what makes Rochester distinctively Rochester, its history, its habits, its people. Contact him at: (585) 278-8012 or jmemmott@DemocratandChronicle.com or Remarkable Rochester, Box 274, Geneseo, NY, 14454.

Remarkable Rochesterians

Let’s add the name of this business leader to the list of Remarkable Rochesterians that can be found at to be found at RocRoots.com:

Ursula M. Burns (1958 – ): In 2009, she became the first African-American woman to serve as the chief executive officer of a Fortune 500 company when she assumed that position at Xerox Corp. A year later she became chairwoman of the company. A native of New York City and a graduate of Polytechnic Institute of New York, she joined Xerox as a summer intern in Rochester in 1980. After earning her master's degree in mechanical engineering from Columbia University, she joined Xerox full time in 1981. She worked in a variety of positions before she was made president of the company in 2007. She lived in Brighton and Connecticut and was active in Rochester community affairs, including serving on the board of the University of Rochester. In 2017, she retired from the company.