Luke S. "Lukie" Wilson

Luke Swinton “Lukie” Wilson was born July 24,1999, in Memphis, TN. He left this world December 5, 2020, at the age of 21 years, 4 months, 11 days. Luke was raised in the South Cordova/Germantown area of Shelby County, Tennessee. He attended Riverdale School K-8, Germantown High School, and Houston High School. Luke graduated from HomeLife Academy August 2017.

After graduating he held a few different jobs, including working for his dad’s plumbing company. After some time, he decided he wanted to join the military. The US Army was a perfect fit for him. He was sworn in on July 8, 2020, and reported to Fort Leonard Wood, MO for training on August 24, 2020. Luke was so proud to be a US Army soldier! He was a member of C Co, 795th Military Police Battalion, graduated and was promoted to Private 2nd Class posthumously.

Luke is survived by his parents, Kerry Bradley Wilson (mother) of Germantown, TN and Alan Bradley Wilson (father) of Cordova, TN, his older brother, Noah Bradley Wilson (23) of Memphis, TN, and his younger sister, Evie Clare Wilson (14) of Germantown, TN, maternal grandmother, JoAnn Bradley of Malden, MO, 2 maternal aunts, Kelly Bradley Hudspeth (Terry) of W. Paducah, KY and Kasey Bradley Owens (Paul) of Smiths Station, AL, paternal uncle, Victor Wilson, Jr (Carol) of Coldwater, MS, and 2 paternal aunts, Cindy Wilson Zinselmeyer (Olaf) of Dallas, TX, and Lori Wilson Cook (Gary) of Cordova,

TN. He is also survived by MANY cousins and close friends.

He was preceded in death by his maternal grandfather, Morris Bradley of Malden, MO, paternal grandparents, Mr. & Mrs. EV Wilson, Sr (Betty) of Cordova, TN, and paternal aunt, Janet Wilson of Memphis, TN.

In lieu of flowers, the family has set up a donation page for Wounded Warriors Project to honor/memorialize Luke's love of service to others. If you would like to give, please follow the link below.

https://communityfundraising.woundedwarriorproject.org/campaign/In-Memory-of-PV2-Luke-S-Wilson

Luke was born and raised in Memphis, TN. He was the cutest baby, albeit a bit “needy” - never wanting to be put down, and he NEVER napped more than 15-30 minutes. That didn’t change until the teenage years when it was difficult to get him out of bed. He was always a bit of a “home body” and loved being with his family and close friends. From the time he could voice an opinion of any kind, he loved the color red. As a toddler, Luke would cry if Mom tried to dress him in other colors.

Luke was a sports enthusiast from a very young age. He loved baseball, football, and basketball. In respect to his favored color choice and his Pops’ delight, Luke became the biggest Razorbacks fan of all; he loved everything Razorbacks. When it came to baseball, he was a St Louis Cardinal's fan - also a delight for his Pops and ALL of his extended Missouri family. Notice that they’re both “red” teams. Luke loved being outdoors playing football or baseball with his brother and went on to play on various football and baseball recreational teams. Luke is left-handed, so the baseball teams really took advantage of this trait in using him as a pitcher and switch hitter because he could do both. Luke spent hours in the backyard determined to be a good pitcher and working on getting better at hitting from both sides of the plate.

As Luke got older, he started hunting with his dad. He loved to shoot and hunt and was really pretty good. Luke always wanted to be a police officer so learning to be a good marksman was a good thing. However, he didn’t share the same passion for Duck Season as his dad, since it was COLD! One time, he asked if there was a duck season in the Spring because it was just too cold during duck season. Tickets to sporting events were easy gift ideas for Luke because of his love for all sports. He enjoyed going to any sporting event, but Razorbacks games were his favorite. He attended several football games, including the year Arkansas beat Ole Miss 20-0 at home where our seats were right behind the Ole Miss bench - that was fun! Ha!

For Luke’s 19th birthday, he went to a Razorback Basketball game with his dad.

Thankfully, WE WON! After the game, they went to the BBQ place where the team would sometimes gather after a game. After being seated, in walked Head Coach Mike Anderson who asked if he could sit with Luke and his dad since it was so crowded. Of course, Luke said “YES!!”, so Coach and Luke sat and talked and exchanged plays. Coach was impressed with Luke’s knowledge of basketball. Luke said it was the best birthday ever!

For his 20th birthday, his mom took him to a St Louis Cardinals baseball game in St. Louis. It was a weekend to remember as he made such an impression on her high school friends with whom they stayed for the weekend. Per Luke’s normal, he quickly connected with each of them and loved every minute!

Luke was always happy and joking – he was always the comedian. He would imitate other voices and was always quick to break out in a dance to make people laugh. We learned that Luke was doing the “dab” entertaining his bunkmates the night he was taken to the hospital. We were always tickled at how Luke had a way of making people laugh, and he hardly knew the joy he brought to so many.

If there was ever any conflict, Luke would try to resolve it. He loved his family/friends and would do anything for them. His sensitivity to others brought him some heartache from time to time because he cared so much. He just wanted everyone to get along, and sometimes that meant he gave up a bit of himself. He didn’t mind though because he was a strong guy, confident in his traits of compassion and care.

A testament to Luke’s love for ALL people and their happiness, Stacie’s (dad’s fiancé) daughter, Sarah came to Memphis back in 2017, and Luke was determined to show her a good time by showing her Memphis and introducing her to Memphis BBQ. We just learned about Luke taking her to the Hope Church parking lot and was trying to teach her how to do doughnuts in his car, but she admitted that she wasn’t very good at it and turned the wheel back over to Luke.

When Luke decided he wanted to go into the ARMY, we knew he would follow through because he was so determined to do something good for others. Luke loved anything to do with serving others. From a very young age, it was evident that he was innately a servant-hearted protector.

While Luke was in basic training, he would Facetime us and say how much he loved it there, but he was looking forward to coming home to see his family and friends. Coming home to some long-time comfort foods was high on the list - barbecued ribs by his dad, comfort foods like his mom’s homemade Alfredo, and many other favorites. Not to mention, LONG conversations in which he would most likely do a lengthy monologue.

Luke loved God, his family, his friends and his country! In that order, but not prioritizing

importance - they were ALL his top priority.

We had hopes and dreams for his future. Unfortunately, God had different plans for Luke. There is comfort in knowing he was doing what God created him to do. He had found his path in life. He was happy and proud of himself which makes us more proud of him! We can find peace in knowing he is in a place now where there is no pain or sorrow. Luke was a Christian, and with faith, we know where he is and that we will see him again someday!