Lucianne Forcum Wilt

Lucianne Forcum Wilt passed away on Tuesday, May 9th, 2023. She was, as usual, surrounded by loved ones in her home in Nashville. Gifted in so many ways, she shone brightest in her devotion to her family, to her many causes, to throwing the best party you ever attended, to organizing life-changing travel and to lending her wisdom to solving your trickiest problem. Her laugh, her largesse, and her love of life touched everyone she encountered.

All of these things she did, often simultaneously, with such style and seeming ease that it was often only later that one realized they were in the presence of a Master at Work. She was where you came for fun, for advice, or, when the situation called for it, making delicious mischief. For her family she was the Center around which to orbit. For her friends, great times and safe harbor. And for anyone lucky enough to cross her path, she was Welcome personified.

Ever humble, Lucianne would not have approved of being touted in print, but an incredible woman, accurately described, would be difficult to capture otherwise. We’ll have to content ourselves to honor her fully in the way she loved best, telling stories in the joyful company of the people she loved and who loved her so well. Her People. While her accomplishments were many, the mark she left on her People are the truest testament to a life well lived.

Born in Dyersburg, TN to Lucille Lyne and Don Forcum, Lucianne was raised in Russellville, Kentucky with her three siblings. She attended Hollins College and later graduated from the University of Tennessee before moving to Nashville. Here she made her home for most of the next fifty years, raising her three children and later, adoringly Grandmothering fifteen with her loving husband, Toby Wilt. Along the way she chaired the Boards of several organizations, most proudly The Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital and Cumberland Heights, and serving on the board of the US Senior Women’s Golf Association and Harpeth Hall School. She was generous with her time and support for causes important to her and her family.

Lucianne would never have thought this about herself, but she had a knack for just about everything she touched. It could be both amazing and confounding, especially if she were schooling you in a game of Gin, or calmly, steadily, even politely, obliterating you on the golf course. So smooth an operator was she, and so lacking in ego, that one often didn’t even realize they were being crushed, and somehow came away having thoroughly enjoyed the beating. The lady had style to spare, and the lady had game.

She also served on the board of the Forcum-Lannom Construction Company. In so doing stepping boldly into an environment of men’s men and into a role hardly tailored to a shy young woman in the 1970s. She proved herself ready, then and ever since, to face any challenge that came her way. Hers was a rare kind of resolve. Like her elegance, it had no airs about it. Like her courage, it was contagious.

She is preceded in death by her mother, Lucille, and her father, Don, as well as her brother, Geoff, sister, Donna and stepfather Jim. She is survived by her husband, Toby S. Wilt, and children Lissa Watkins (Jay), Clay Ezell (Vadis), Jeffrey Ezell (Emily), Fleming Wilt (Dallas), Jodi Banks (Mark), and TJ Wilt, as well as her brother Buck Forcum and many beloved grandchildren, nieces, nephews and legion of devoted friends and fans.

Services celebrating Lucianne’s life took place on Monday, May 15th at St. George’s Episcopal Church, 4715 Harding Pike, Nashville, TN 37205. A visitation was held at noon, followed by a memorial service. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to St. George’s Church, or the charity nearest your heart.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.marshalldonnellycombs.com for the Wilt family.