Quickly wheeling around the cramped workspace, Duckelson Duval loads a commercial ice cream maker with water and sugar, and asks his daughter for a bucket of chopped strawberries.
Stretching from the seat of his wheelchair, he packs the berries in with a spoon using a mirror to see. The owner of Mariah’s Water Ice, Duval is too busy keeping customers satisfied during hot summer days to be slowed down by a disability.
A longtime entrepreneur, Duval’s latest business specializes in Italian ice style treats, with flavors ranging from strawberry to passion fruit and just about everything in between when his three children are concocting new recipes.
Duval hopes his young business will be something his children can benefit from in the future, either paying for college or expanding into a larger operation. “With a lot of hard work,” he says, “hopefully the future holds great things for us.”
Photo by Wilmington Star.
Fred333 on October 17th, 2007 at 7:48 am
That is a great story. I guess when God give you lemons in life, you just got make some Italian ice with them. Great story.