We lost our Uncle Lucky last week. Lucky was a man generous in every way, with a warm laugh as big as the great outdoors that he loved, and a heart even bigger. But last Saturday night, his great heart failed him as it had never failed anyone else, and by Monday he was gone.Bound not by blood or marriage, but by faith and friendship, Lucky and his wife Brenda have been a part of our family for nearly two decades. Unofficial godparents to our children, Lucky and Brenda are the friends you hope to find once in a lifetime and the Uncle and Aunt most children can only dream of – steadfast, selfless, and full of fun.
When our girls were younger, our two families spent long summer weekends camping together. If I close my eyes, I can still see Lucky encircled by a ring of little girls – his and ours – fannies planted in the stream, faces streaked with mud-brown war paint, heads thrown back, water splashing, laughter and giggles and squeals rising through the trees, resonating through the forest. It is a golden moment.
Lucky embodied the spirit of service, always reaching out selflessly whenever and wherever he was needed. As recently as last month, when Scott and I attended the Family History Expo in Mesa, it was Uncle Lucky and Aunt Brenda who accompanied our 15-year old to her National Honor Society induction, bringing her a bouquet of roses that inexplicably lasted for nearly a month – almost as long as Lucky.
It was Lucky who spent hours with me in his cold garage in the winter of ‘91, carefully cutting out pieces of rock-hard black walnut for the cradle that we built together for my now 16-year old daughter. And it was Lucky, who, nine years later, fearlessly gave the same daughter a blessing of complete recovery after a serious and severe car accident, long before the doctors pronounced her miraculously healed. Somewhere in between those two events, Lucky also managed to bring a message of hope and redemption to our family for which we will quite literally be grateful to him for eternity.
In short, Uncle Lucky (or ‘Unka Hunky’ as one of our daughters dubbed him) is as much a part of our family as our own brothers and sisters, and has a place now and eternally in our family history – his love and faith will influence the lives of our family members for generation upon generation.
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