Jack H. Lucas passed away on Friday, June 18th at the age of 96. Jack was born and raised in Ashland, AL. He enjoyed a wonderful childhood of sports, music, hunting and fishing. Jack also had many opportunities to create and design innovative technology for radio and telephone as a teenager, which inspired him to pursue a lifelong career in engineering and development.
He served as an ARMY Aviation Cadet in World War II. After the war, Jack returned to Alabama where he married his sweetheart Evelyn Clark and completed his degree in Electrical Engineering at Auburn University. His first job as an engineer was for Pepperell Manufacturing in Opelika, AL. His exceptional knowledge of Radar and Systems provided him with the opportunity to teach for USAF in Biloxi, MS. Jack and Evelyn then moved to Huntsville, AL to work at Redstone Arsenal with the Von Braun team in Guidance and Control for guided missiles. Jack transferred to Marshall Space Flight Center with the Von Braun team in 1958 where he worked in Flight Dynamics at the Astrionics Lab. One of the projects he worked on was flight simulator for the development of the first USA Satellite. Jack worked on multiple NASA Flight vehicles including Juno I & II and the Saturn family of rockets (I, II & Saturn) performing flight simulations with flight hardware and software and dynamic testing. He also worked on SKYLAB, Telescopes LST and XRAY, and multiple other NASA programs including the Shuttle Main Engine Simulator hardware, software and verification.
Jack and Evelyn always found a church home wherever they lived. Their love for the Lord always motivated them to not only attend church, but to find a place to serve. Jack attended First Baptist Church, Huntsville and immediately noticed the need for a better sound system. His passion for the message and the music, to not only be heard, but enjoyed, would last a lifetime. Because of this God-given passion, he would spend endless hours with the architect in the design of the sanctuary, sound booth, and TV booth for First Baptist Church that now stands. His God-given vision for First Baptist Church Sunday service to be broadcast on TV weekly so that anyone could participate in Sunday service was a major contribution to our community.
Jack dedicated much of his free time to help engineer the design for the Living Christmas Tree as well as the audio-visual portion and he looked forward to the production every year.
Jack’s love of hunting and especially fishing continued throughout his life. He took great joy in taking care of his home, garden and animals. His family called him an animal whisperer because he could rehabilitate any animal and earn their trust. Jack’s commitment and love for God’s creation caused him to be a wonderful steward of all he had been given.
Jack is preceded in death by his wife Evelyn and son Jack.
He is survived his daughters Linda Carol Lucas, Fran Lucas Fluhler, and his son David Vance Lucas and wife Michele; grandchildren, Ryan Lucas Hastings, Jason Nicholas Hastings and wife Samantha, Peter Matthew Hastings and wife Rachel, Sarah Elisabeth Barbre and husband Robert, Rebecca Anne Walker and husband Jordan, James David Fluhler and wife Morgan; Willoughby Lucas Hastings and husband Joshua, Fisher Vance Lucas and Emma Michele Lucas; great grandchildren Hannah, Abigail, Franklin, Clarke, Avishama, Sarayah, and Kirsten.
Visitation will be at First Baptist Church, 600 Governors Drive, Huntsville, AL on Tuesday, June 22nd from 11:00 am until 11:45 am with the service following at 12:00. Graveside service will be privately held for family only.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to be made to First Baptist Church audio-visual TV ministry or Manna House PO Box 1991 Huntsville, AL 35807.
