Clarence "Luke" Alfred Lucas Jr.

Clarence Alfred “Luke” Lucas Jr., 96, of Mission, Kansas, passed away September 21, 2026, at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas.
Clarence was born January 6, 1930, Kansas, to Clarence Alfred Lucas Sr. and Sophie Denker Lucas. Growing up, his friends included several Clarences and a Junior, so “Luke,” short for Lucas, became the name everyone knew him by.
Born during the Great Depression, Luke grew up on his family’s turkey farm in Ellinwood, Kansas. Everyone worked hard. That work ethic never wavered and stayed with him throughout his long life.
His remarkable mind revealed itself early. Around age 10, he heard a rattle inside the family’s combine. Curiosity won, and he took it apart. Upon discovering the expensive, essential—and now dismantled—farm machinery, Clarence Sr. was NOT TOO HAPPY. In under two hours, Luke had carefully put the combine back together. The rattle was gone.
A family member recognized Luke’s unusual intelligence and insisted that his parents find a way to send him to a university. Luke graduated from Great Bend High School and went on to the University of Kansas, earning a degree in chemical engineering in 1952.
When asked why he chose chemical engineering, Luke explained that its registration line was the shortest. A perfectly reasonable way to make a life-altering decision. Through some combination of intelligence, curiosity and timing, he repeatedly found himself among fascinating people, in unusual places and at the center of a very good story.
And Luke was, above all else, a storyteller. You knew a monologue was coming when he took off his glasses, closed his eyes and tilted his head back. His subjects included engineering, the Army, KU basketball, soap manufacturing, roses, cheesecake, turkeys and the many interesting people he met along the way. Facts mattered, certainly—but so did timing, pacing and knowing exactly when to deliver the best line. He especially enjoyed a story in which he was the punchline.
After graduating from KU, Luke began working as a chemical engineer for Colgate-Palmolive. Less than a month later, he was drafted into the United States Army during the Korean War. He completed basic training at Fort Riley and was assigned to the 9710th Technical Service Unit, Chemical Corps, Technical Escort Detachment. He served with Detachment No. 2 at Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland, performing highly specialized chemical work.
His education and exceptional test scores placed him among a brilliant group of engineers and scientists who became lifelong friends. Luke’s IQ was measured at 147, which he laughingly pointed out made him the “Dummkopf” of the group. Everyone else scored 150 or higher.
Asked about his time in the “war”—having never left the continental United States—he would reply that it was one of the best times of his life. Daily chess matches with some of the brightest men in the country! This little nerd was living his best life. And that is exactly how he would portray himself.
The Army also provided some of his best material. On one trip from Maryland to a military base in Alabama, Luke was entrusted with top-secret documents secured inside a briefcase chained to his wrist. Efficient as always, he placed his lunch—a tuna sandwich—inside the same briefcase.
Apparently, major generals are not happy with fishy-smelling, damp documents. Noted.
Many of the men in his unit went on to become Fortune 500 CEOs, corporate presidents and professors. Their “Dummkopf” treasured those friendships for the rest of his life. The group gathered for reunions in Chicago for many years, and Luke eventually became its last surviving member.
After completing his service, Luke returned to Kansas City and Colgate-Palmolive, his career there spanned 37 years. Following retirement, he began a successful second act as a consultant in liquid-soap manufacturing. He loved the work, but he especially valued the people. Many colleagues became lasting friends—and, inevitably, characters in future stories.
In KC, Luke met Marilyn Anderson through the singles group at Kansas City Christian Church. The group met at church on Sundays and then continued its fellowship over beers at The Peanut on Main Street. It proved to be an effective combination.
Luke and Marilyn married February 22, 1964, in Wichita and shared more than 62 years together. They made their home in Mission, where Luke lived for 62 years.
Luke remained a devoted Jayhawk throughout his life. He held KU basketball season tickets for more than half his life. As a KU student, he shagged balls at basketball practices coached by Phog Allen and, with a friend, compiled books of game statistics.
Decades later, his daughter Betsy discovered those books and wrote to KU’s athletics leadership. If today’s student managers earned letters and letter jackets, she reasoned, her dad deserved them too. KU agreed. At 85, Luke received his basketball letter and jacket and became a member of the K Club. It had taken more than 60 years, but he had finally lettered.
Marilyn was also a KU graduate, as were both of their daughters, making Jayhawk loyalty less a preference than a family requirement.
His curiosity reached far beyond engineering. Math was his favorite subject, and he enjoyed tutoring high school students. He also volunteered for approximately a decade at the AFS concession stands at Shawnee Mission North High School.
Luke was a devoted gardener who took particular pride in the beautiful roses he grew in his front yard. He was an equally devoted baker, spending years perfecting his cheesecake recipe and regularly selling out at the KU Medical Center Auxiliary sale.
He never lost his affection for turkeys. He particularly enjoyed telling the story of winning a bag of silver dollars for his birds, and he kept those coins throughout his life—a tangible souvenir from one more chapter in a life overflowing with them.
Luke was a member of Immanuel United Church of Christ in Ellinwood.
He is survived by his wife of more than 62 years, Marilyn Anderson Lucas of Mission; his daughters, Rebecca “Becky” Tate and her husband, C. Dow Tate, of Shawnee, and Elizabeth “Betsy” Lucas and her partner, Michael “Mitch” Mitchelson, of Leawood; and his beloved granddaughter, Morgan Tate, of Shawnee. He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, John Russell Lucas, who died in infancy before Luke was born.
Luke leaves behind a family who adored him, friends and colleagues scattered across the chapters of his life, roses that bloomed because he tended them, a perfected cheesecake recipe, a bag of silver dollars, an unwavering allegiance to the Jayhawks—and stories. So many stories.
Perhaps the best way to remember Luke is with his glasses off, his eyes closed and his head tilted back, a smile beginning to form, already halfway into the next one.
Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday, October 6, at the Church of Christ in Ellinwood, Kansas.  
A celebration of Luke’s life will also be held on October 17th from 1-3 PM, at Milburn Country Club in Kansas City. All are welcome. In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to Ellinwood Community Church in care of Minnis Chapel, P.O. Box 246, Ellinwood, KS 67526. Those wishing to honor Luke’s lifelong love of the Jayhawks may contact Becky Tate for information about an additional memorial opportunity supporting KU. Condolences may be shared through Minnis Chapel.