Leonard Elmo Lucas

Leonard Elmo Lucas, born June 17, 1930 in Bloomington, IN to Tella Otto and Lillie Reeves Lucas. He was the youngest boy of four children, Charles Eugene, Lloyd Marvin, Leonard, Elmo, and Violet Maudlene!

He started working to save money for a bicycle at the age of nine by selling newspapers, he was quite the entrepreneur. He realize that if he bought cigarettes for the the other newspaper boys that they would leave him alone so he could sell his papers on a better street corners. He also rode 10 miles one way to get his papers deliver his papers and go back home all this before he went to school this began his newspaper career.

He worked at a plumbing shop, work at mirror glass shop, at the bowling alley and the movie theater. He quickly realized that he made better money by selling newspapers so he went back to his newspaper route.

He wanted to have good teeth before he went to high school so his dad paid to have his teeth pulled out and Leonard collected money through his newspaper route to get his upper plate.

He always worked hard at everything he did. After he got out of high school he met Patricia Jane Tartaglia when he worked at the grocery store sacking the groceries.

He was drafted into the army, and due to the fact that the war was nearly over they had no military clothes or boots for him to wear so he had to wear dress uniform and his street shoes. He ended up getting chickenpox and had to go to the infirmary until he got well. Every morning he had to get up and make his bed and turn right back around and get back in it until he was well. Not long after he recovered from that the war was over, and he went back to civilian life,

He and Patsy were married August 17, 1951 at the Christian church in Bloomington. He worked at the Bloomington Telephone and the Bloomington Daily Herald until he got a job offer from the Indianapolis Star and News.

At that time they had two boys, Steven Allen and Michael Joe Lucas. They moved to Indianapolis and lived up on the north side of E Washington Street. Then they decided to move to Beech Grove at that time. Their daughter Lisa Elizabeth was born at St. Francis Hospital.

They lived on North eighth in Beech Grove until 1963 they bought a new house on North Bend Rd. on the southside of Beech Grove. They resided there until 1979. Between Mike and Steve, Pat and Leonard had one grandson and three granddaughters. from there, those grandchildren had seven great grandsons, and five great granddaughters. Currently, there are two great, great grandsons and one great great granddaughter.

Leonard retired from the Indianapolis Star News at the age of 59 1/2 in 1989. His reasoning is that they were changing over to Computer age and he did not want to learn computers. There were times that I’m sure he wished he had learned computers, but alas, he didn’t.

He picked up golf right away and had his first hole-in-one not long after he started playing. He became a tour guide at the Scottish rite. He was a trustee at their church the University Heights United Methodist Church. He was a 32nd Mason. He was so proud of each of these accomplishments. He was a member of the both the Mooresville and the Greenwood Lodge.

Steve passed away in 2014 at 61. Patricia passed in 2016 at 83, Judy Mike’s wife passed in 2017 suddenly and Mike passed 2018 after a lengthy illness. Lisa’s husband Carl passed away suddenly in 2022.

Leonard had a fall and had a brain injury and surgery and he had to do Rehab at Altenheim. He went back to their home on South fifth in Beech Grove where he had another accident and he was in the floor for 12 hours. There again he went to the hospital into the rehab at Altenheim and then they decided that he needed to get an apartment at Altenheim so he can be closer to Patricia and to stay safe.

He would walk the facility twice a day every day and then also go to the dining room for his meals. He never used cane walker wheelchair, and did such a great job of keeping himself active. He would tell everybody when they asked how do you live so long and he says I walk every day. He always had a smile on his face and a friendly hello to everyone and have many pictures of him meeting and greeting all of his friends. Even after he went into the skilled nursing side, they would go over and see his friends from his assisted living area.

He gave it a great fight January 30. He rode the bike down in pt for 10 minutes and walked with the walker. We believe it was a blood infection that ended up making him so sick and weak that he could not recover. His family and friends will miss him so much.

His great love for dogs he would appreciate donation in his name at the Humane Society, IndyHumane, 7929 Michigan Rd, Indianapolis, Indiana 46201, www.indyhumane.org.

Visitation for Leonard will be held Thursday, February 16, 2023 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM at Little & Sons Funeral Home, 1301 Main St, Beech Grove, Indiana 46107, followed by a Funeral Service at 1:00 PM. Leonard will be laid to rest in Forest Lawn Memory Gardens, Greenwood, Indiana.