Eddie Floyd Lucero

The Lord delivered Eddie to Serafina and Tomas Lucero in the middle of the Great Depression and an especially heavy Colorado winter. The second eldest of eight brothers and sisters, Eddie was raised in the prairie community of Garcia, Colorado. He spent his youth chasing in the long shadows of Ute Mountain and the Sangre De Cristo Range. He worked the farm with his family, attended the town’s only schoolhouse, sculpted in the local clay and pinyon wood, and wandered the serpentine riverbeds that still line the San Luis Valley.

When World War II broke out, his father left to work in the Naval shipyards of California. Only ten, and after living mostly with his abuelito and abuelita, Eddie returned home to shepherd his younger siblings. He was never alone, and never without the love and watchful gaze of his many tios, tias and primos to guide the footsteps of his journey.

An honors student, Eddie graduated high school early and at 17 left home to join the Air Force. He continued his service, was promoted to the rank of Staff Sergeant, and served through the Korean War. His love of country and passion for flight would propel him to eventually pursue engineering at the University of Colorado and his Master of Science in Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Eddie enjoyed a distinguished career of over 40 years with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. He published several key papers and led research with early projects in ramjet and scramjet hypersonic airframes. His work included numerous Navy guided missiles programs and led nuclear safety teams that enabled deep space exploration on the Galileo and Cassini missions.

Eddie married Lois Renner in 1965, who gave birth to John David and Michael Edward, joining the first 100 pioneers of Columbia in the late 1960s. Eddie was a devoted, loving father, grandfather, and husband who enjoyed bowling and golf, and a lifelong volunteer with the community and church. After his wife's death, Eddie married Eileen Doyle in 1997. The two shared the love of travel, and have journeyed to all but one continent, exploring Egypt, Vietnam, Russia, Spain, China, Greece, Australia, Fiji, Thailand, and many other wondrous parts of the world.

Eddie is survived by his wife, Eileen; his sons, David and Michael; his siblings, Edna, Archie, Levi, and Robert; and his grandchildren, Michael, Tom, Matthew, John, Owen, Lyla and Gia. Eddie is preceded in death by his parents and sister, Bina, and his brothers, Manuel, and Henry.

Family will receive friends at Witzke Funeral Homes, Inc., 5555 Twin Knolls Rd., Columbia, MD 21045 on Wednesday, June 2, 2021, from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8pm. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, 10431 Twin Rivers Rd., Columbia, MD 21044 on Thursday, June 3, 2021, at 12pm. Interment Columbia Memorial Park. There will be a reception to follow.