Betty Kimble Lucas of Vestavia Hills, Alabama (formerly of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and Chatom, Alabama) passed away peacefully on April 11, 2021, just weeks shy of her 95th birthday. Born May 27, 1926, to Leslie Kimble and Sally Runyon Kimble, she was graduated from Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia, with an economics major and a psychology minor. She began her career with Proctor & Gamble in Cincinnati, Ohio, as a market researcher, traveling across the country and Canada at a time when few women traveled or received college degrees.
Following a move to south Alabama in the early 1950’s, she married Richmond P. Lucas, Jr. In 1952 she began the most important phase of her life—that of being a mother and homemaker to her five children. A few years after being widowed in 1979, she moved to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and enjoyed continuing education classes at the University of Southern Mississippi. She was very involved in her church, Main Street United Methodist Church. Once her children were educated, she traveled extensively throughout North America, South America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
In 2004 she moved to Birmingham, Alabama, where three of her daughters live. She enjoyed an independent, active lifestyle at Town Village in Vestavia Hills until the end and was well loved by the other residents and staff at the place she called home. She loved to read and instilled that love of books in all of her children. She was also an avid Jeopardy fan who loved watching Alex Trebek, often knowing many of the answers to the most random questions. She was a member of Mountain Chapel United Methodist Church in Vestavia. A lifelong Methodist, she had read the Bible cover to cover twice.
She was predeceased by her parents and two sisters, Peggy Frisch and Eleanor Kavanaugh; her husband, Richmond P. Lucas, Jr.; and her only son, Richmond Garth Lucas. She is survived by her four daughters, Gail Lucas; Kim Lucas; and Lyn Lucas Davis (Richard), all of Birmingham, Alabama; and Connie Lucas Morse of Pensacola, Florida; and her three granddaughters, Abby Morse of Atlanta, Georgia; and Jessie Morse and Natalie Morse, both of Pensacola, Florida.
A private service will be held for the family at Mountain Chapel United Methodist Church with Rev. Lana Johnson officiating and Kay Dick providing music. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to The Community Food Bank of Central Alabama, 107 Walter Davis Dr., Birmingham, Alabama 35209 or to Mountain Chapel United Methodist Church, 2541 Rocky Ridge Rd., Birmingham, Alabama 35243.
Special thanks to the staff and management team at Town Village who kept her active and engaged and treated her with so much respect and kindness.
Inurnment of ashes with Dr. Holly Morales June 19, 2021 at Chatom Cemetery, Chatom, Alabama.
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