Thomas Robert Lucas

On Wednesday, September 4, 2024, Thomas Robert Lucas passed away at the age of seventy-five. Better known as Tom, Dad, or Grandpa Goat (there’s a story), he was born to Burt Lucas and Anna Covino in Canandaigua, New York on October 11, 1948.

Tom was gifted with an intelligent, philosophical mind, as well as an impeccable taste in women. And so it was that during his remaining years in New York, he earned his Juris Doctor degree at SUNY Buffalo, and married his first wife, Norma Fowler, fathering two children, Marnie Robel and Jeff Lucas. Like many gold-rushers, Tom set his sights on Alaska in 1978, forgetting entirely that the gold rush had occurred nearly 80 years before, but luckily, he had his law degree to fall back on. No evidence exists as to his prowess with a bat, but he did meet his second wife, Laurie Campbell, on a co-ed softball team in Anchorage, and fathered his third child, Keegan Lucas.

Tom would hate to be a cliché, but the third time was indeed the charm when he married Kathleen O’Donnell in 1985, having found a person willing to put up with his gas and unusual linguistic constructs. It may have helped that he had a deft hand in the kitchen: one might think that this remembrance (‘remembory’, in the parlance of Tom) was for Anthony Bourdain, given how frequently Tom’s passion for cooking came first to mind for his loved ones.

His limericks may have been spicier than anything he cooked, and besides inflicting his wordplay on others, his hobbies found him blurring the lines between jock and nerd. Tom’s inherent athleticism and mostly unrewarded rooting for the Buffalo Bills coexisted with a love of video games, chess, and a voracious appetite for books, particularly fantasy and science (fiction or otherwise). His brain was as stuffed with facts as the cannoli he craved from his time in New York were stuffed with ricotta, and his philosophical musings were often the dessert course family and guests would enjoy after indulging in one of his feasts.

As well-suited as he was to entertaining, Tom sometimes required an extra nudge when it came to communicating. But at his core, he was sentimental and nostalgic, evidenced by actions like creating a family-only page on Facebook after one of his children’s weddings. With Kathleen, he had found the person he wanted to share every day of his life with, and they were married nearly 39 years.

Tom was predeceased by his parents and brother Michael, and is survived by his stepmother Jean, wife Kathleen, children Marnie (Matt), Jeff (Laura) &Keegan (Mike), grandchildren Rebecca, Lauren, Mallory, Jessa & Skylar, great-grandchildren Henry and Lewis, sisters Lonnie, Lisa (Scott) & Lori (Jeff), and brother Ronald (Beverly), along with countless cousins, nieces, nephews, in-laws, and friends, all of whom will hold a special place for him in their hearts.

Celebration of Life 

May 17, 2025 at 2:00pm 

AMVETS Post 49

9191 Old Seward Highway

Anchorage, Alaska 99515