Jack Duckworth John Harold " Jack " Duckworth was the husband of the late Vera and father of Terry . The Duckworths lived at 9 Coronation Street from 1983 until 2010 , although Jack and Vera also owned and lived at the Rovers Return Inn from 1995 to 1998 . Jack loved beer , his pigeons , and gambling , but most of all he loved his moments away from Vera ; despite their obvious love for each other Jack and Vera were always rowing and , in the early years of the marriage , playing away . Despite being no pushover , Jack could appear to be under battleaxe Vera ' s thumb as he usually let her have her way so he could have peace and quiet . However , they were one of the Street ' s strongest couples as they were always down - on - their - luck and when times were hard ( which they always were ) they closed ranks . This was true particularly where their son Terry was concerned . Like Jack , Terry was a bit of a jack - the - lad , but Terry had little regard for other people and used them for his own ends . The Duckworths suffered as Vera always believed that Terry was turning over a new leaf , only for Terry to abuse her faith and hurt her , leaving Jack to pick up the pieces . Jack was never fooled but usually gave him a chance for Vera ' s sake . Another area where Jack didn ' t have much luck was work . After a few years working as a taxi driver , Jack got a job as a cellarman at the Rovers in 1985 . A layabout , Jack didn ' t enjoy cellar work and he often had to put up with being the butt of the other staff ' s jokes . Ten years later , the Duckworths dream came true when they used money they inherited after Jack ' s brother Clifford died to buy the Rovers , but the endeavour was not successful and the couple were bought out by Alec Gilroy in 1997 . After some time running Park Road B & B , the Duckworths returned to No . 9 . They spent the later years of their lives playing surrogate parents to Tyrone Dobbs , who became more of a son to them than Terry had been . They were planning to retire to Blackpool , as their grandson Tommy lived there , but Vera died in her sleep in 2008 and Jack decided to stay in Weatherfield . He passed away in 2010 after contracting Non - Hodgkin lymphoma , having spent the last year of his life living with fellow pigeon - lover Connie Rathbone ( although they were just friends ) . Biography . Jack was born to parents Harry and Maggie Duckworth in 1936 and brought up on Butler Street . While working at a British fairground ride , the Waltzer , he met Veronica Burton and they began a relationship . They got married in 1957 and had a son named Terry . Married life to Vera . Jack first appeared on 28th November 1979 when he made his mark on the street by embarrassing Vera with his common ways at Brian Tilsley ' s marriage to Gail Potter . He was next seen in 1981 , becoming a semi - regular character from 18th May 1981 and a regular character in 1983 , when the Duckworths moved into the Street , much to the dismay of the neighbours . During a trip to the United States , Jack confessed to having lied at their wedding ( by making a smudge on his year of birth to make it look like another number ) , and said he was two years older than he really was just to impress a young Vera . Since they were not legally married , they tied the knot in the famous Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas . The Duckworth marriage was always rocky , owing in part to their wayward son , Terry , and extra - marital flings by both Jack and Vera . In 1982 , Jack had an affair with the street ' s prolific man - eater Bet Lynch , which she later regretted . He enrolled with a video dating agency in 1983 , calling himself Vince St . Clair and adopted a white suit , gold medallion and fake trans - Atlantic accent . Vera , alerted by Bet Lynch , arranged to meet Jack under the name of Carole Munro . The meeting took place in the Rovers , with Vera wearing a ginger wig . This led to a classic confrontation ; ' Carole Munroe ' had been claiming to be a rich widow , which led Jack to say " You ' re no flamin ' widow ! " As Vera swiped Jack with her handbag she shouted " No ! But I will be ten minutes after I get you home ! " Vera also had her fair share of lovers . She was tempted by a former romance in with the smarmy Lestor Fontaine , but realised she could never leave Jack . In the year 2000 , when she believed she was about to die in an operation , she confessed to Jack through a goodbye letter that Terry may not have been his real son due to a fling early in their marriage . Jack confessed to Curly Watts that he knew of the affair at the time ( and put an end to it by beating up her lover unknown to Vera ) , but also knew that Terry " was " his son , as he reminded him too much of himself . The Duckworth grandchildren . The Duckworths had three grandchildren : Paul ( by Andrea Clayton ) , Tommy ( by Lisa Duckworth ) , and Brad ( by Tricia Armstrong ) , but they hardly saw any of them due to Terry ' s reluctance to be a father . Paul was conceived in the mid - 1980s , but the teenage Andrea fled with her family to escape Terry . In the early 1990s , Terry made his then girlfriend , Lisa Horton , pregnant . He was imprisoned but vowed to marry her , and the pair were delighted when Terry was allowed out of prison ( although handcuffed ) for one day only for his wedding . They duly married but the groom escaped from the police and went on the run . He was later re - captured in a supermarket car park , where he had lingered too long in order to tell Lisa how much he loved her and that the flight from the wedding was just opportunistic and didn ' t reflect on their relationship . However , she knew that Terry was a rogue and always would be , so she broke off their relationship and , despite being pregnant , set up home with Des Barnes at No . 6 . Vera turned against her instantly , even accusing her of being the reason for Terry ' s misfortune . Jack however knew that Terry would never stand by his family , but felt duty bound to stand by his wife in their shunning of Lisa . She gave birth to a little boy , Tommy , and everything seemed perfect for their surrogate family , until one night Lisa was killed by a car as she was leaving the Rovers and crossing the street . Following this tragedy , Tommy went to live with his paternal grandparents , but Jack and Vera found it hard to cope . They also suffered financially . A callous Terry sold his son to his maternal grandparents , the Hortons of Blackpool , despite Vera ' s impassioned pleas . Jack ' s response to Terry ' s actions was more straightforward and uncompromising - he punched Terry on the jaw . Terry ' s one - night stand with barmaid Tricia Armstrong resulted in baby Brad , but Terry didn ' t want to know about his son , and Tricia left with a new lover , decorator Ray Thorpe . The Duckworths tried several times to win custody of Tommy from the Hortons , but to no avail . They continued to see him occasionally , but relations remained strained . Later years and losing Vera . Jack and Vera calmed down in their later years , becoming more of a down - to - earth northern couple . They became surrogate parents for Tyrone Dobbs ( whose mother , Jackie , had been in prison for violence ) . Jack considered him to be more his own son than Terry ever was . Jack adored his pigeons , though Vera could not stand them , and once tricked him into believing that she had cooked him a pigeon pie . In 2005 Jack agreed to sell his dead body for a certain sum of cash to an artist who enjoys painting stuffed humans , so he could buy Vera a Christmas present . When Vera discovered this , she argued with the woman . The artist was in spired to ask both Jack and Vera to pose nude for the artist , on condition that they would be buried as normal . The Duckworths celebrated their Golden wedding anniversary with a party at the Rovers in August 2007 . Vera died suddenly on 18th January 2008 in the armchair at her house , where she was discovered by a devastated Jack . They had been planning to move to Blackpool at the time , but Vera ' s death prompted Jack to call off the move and remain in Weatherfield . He still planned on selling the house to Tyrone and his fiancée Molly Compton and eventually did so , but still remained resident . Jack began a friendship with a pigeon lover called Connie in 2009 , although Tyrone didn ' t approve as he saw her just wanting to replace Vera . However Tyrone eventually accepted her and put behind his stubbornness . Connie was well off , and Jack left to live with her but still visited the Street . He was touched deeply when Tyrone and Molly had a son and named him Jack . Last few months and death . In 2010 , Jack suddenly returned - no longer living with Connie but wouldn ' t say why . Tyrone and Molly allowed him to move back in to No . 9 , but wanted to know what exactly was going on especially when Connie turned up and demanded he be honest . Jack then confessed to Tyrone he had non - Hodgkin lymphoma which was incurable and he would be dead within weeks . Tyrone was devastated , but he and Jack resolved to make the most of his last few weeks . Jack also decided to perform secret acts of kindness for his friends and neighbours . He donated £2 , 000 to help fix the church roof after seeing Emily Bishop collecting in the Rovers , and when he heard Sally Webster say that she had always wanted to go to an opera he anonymously bought her tickets . He also helped Ashley Peacock and his wife Claire through their marriage difficulties by encouraging them to talk to each other . Knowing that Jack ' s upcoming birthday would be his last , Tyrone set about organising a party in the Rovers to celebrate . One night , Jack was left extremely upset when he overheard an argument between Molly and Kevin Webster and learned that Molly had cheated on Tyrone with Kevin who was actually Jack ' s father but initially kept the information to himself . On 7th November , Jack enjoyed the gathering at the Rovers for his birthday seeing his long - time friends and neighbours but could barely contain his hostility around Kevin . He then confessed to Molly that he knew about her and Kevin , but told her that he and Vera had both cheated on each other more than once but still had a wonderful marriage . However he warned her to move away from Weatherfield with Tyrone and Jack , as it was the only way to put the affair truly behind her . He then decided to slip away from the party , with Ken Barlow raising a glass to him as he left . Jack returned to the house after a final look at the bustling street where he ' d spent so long and put on one of Vera ' s records and went to sleep . He woke up to a familiar voice and saw the spirit of Vera standing in front of him , beckoning him to join her . As Jack believed he was enjoying a romantic dance with Vera , he peacefully passed away in his armchair . Tyrone , Molly and Connie found Jack ' s body shortly afterwards , and Tyrone said an emotional farewell to his ' dad ' . Quotes . " Gin and orange . " ( First line ) " You ' ve heard of the Bride of Frankenstein ? Well I ' m the husband of Vera Duckworth . " ( on his lack of Halloween costume ) " Blimey , give me an ' airnet and I ' d pass for Ena Sharples ! " ( looking in the mirror dressed as Ida Fagg ) " I ' ll give you three guesses . " ( Final line )