Mom was the third of six children born to Sylvester and Katherine Abell, she was born in Washington, Indiana. When she was very young her parents moved the family to Indianapolis, Indiana, where she resided until her death. She was raised in rough years for our country. A child of 7 yrs. old when the great depression hit America, her family like most of that era, struggled to feed their families, jobs were hard to find. The difficulties her family endured during those years made her a strong and grateful person. All through her life she maintained a lifestyle of being grateful for what you have and cherish your love ones. She graduated from Shortridge High School in 1939 with a scholarship to Purdue University. However, she never got to enroll at Purdue, because her family needed her financial support. She was going to become a lawyer and practice in commercial law.

I guess it is lucky for us that she didn't go on to Purdue and was employed by Kingans Meat Packing Co. where she met her future husband, Leo E. Lucas. Mom and Dad were married 62 years and all of us loved to hear their stories of going dancing at the Indiana Ball Room, listening to the great music of the Big Bands (Pennies From Heaven was their favorite song) on the radio. They were of that great time when you made you own happiness, no TV or fast food, just good ole times with friends. Mom loved to be with friends and family, the more, the merrier, she was a great hostess. No one could cook like her, she was a fabulous cook and loved collecting recipes.

Mom went into the banking profession after we were in school and discovered she really liked it and had a good talent for the business. She loved her customers and was proud she did a good job, she always said "do it right, and above all have good work ethics for yourself beyond what others expected of you." She taught us so many valuable ways to be a good person. She was a wonderful wife, mother, and grandmother, who always gave all her love and support in any way she could.

She loved sports and for over 20 yrs. was a member of the "WIBC" and received several "600 Series" awards. She loved traveling with her team members to out of state bowling conferences, especially when they went to Las Vegas. She loved to play those slot machines, nothing big, just nickels (remember depression children know how hard a nickel was to make). Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics was her very favorite, she always wanted to meet him and truly thought he was one of the greats in basketball. Her and Dad loved to watch tennis on TV, especially Wimbledon. One of her passionate hobbies was playing cards, oh how she loved to play, her favorite game was poker. She had many good friends through the years who she played cards with and she cherished them. She'd say "there is nothing better than a good cup of coffee and a sandwich shared with friends after a card game." For many years she and I would join my grandmother and Mom's sisters for a day at the Kentucky Derby. We had a great time going there and shared a lot of happy moments.

Mom was a very patriotic person and loved her country, she was proud that her husband, son and grandson were all veterans. She was a lifelong democrat, who thought Roosevelt, Kennedy and Clinton were great presidents. She was a member of the Crooked Creek Baptist Church, she was a very spiritual lady who believed in God, her strong belief in God helped her through many times in her life.

All of us will miss this wonderful woman forever, she was loved so very much by her husband, children and grandchildren. There will not be a day that goes by, when she won't be missed. So I'll say goodbye to you for one last time from all of us, the way you and I always said goodbye, "1040 over and out".


Sharon Lucas
Daughter