W. Robert Lucas

Wilbur Robert Lucas, aged nearly 86 years, faithful husband of nearly 65 years, beloved father and grandfather, passed from this life to life eternal in the presence of the Saviour, the Lord, Jesus Christ, on Monday, January 20, 2025.

Robert Lucas was born to Wilbur Wayne and Naomi Ruth (nee Febus) Lucas on February 24, 1939, on the family farm in Lanesville Township, Sangamon County, Illinois. He would live, work, and raise a family in the Township for the next 65 years. Robert met the love of his life, Jean Angeles in the summer of 1955 while playing baseball at a Springfield, IL city park field. He graduated from Illiopolis High School in 1957 and began farming in partnership with his father. Robert and Jean were married at historic First Methodist Church, Springfield, IL on February 27, 1960; three days after his twenty-first birthday. He and Jean began farming independently at that time and continued for the next 45 years. Robert and Jean moved “to town”, Mt. Pulaski, IL for retirement, living there 20 years, where they were members of Mt. Pulaski Christian Church.

After 85 years living within a few miles of his birthplace, Robert took the courageous step of leaving the familiar to move 200 miles south to Farmington, MO when God, in His providence presented the opportunity to live closer to son Larry, his wife Kathryn, and grand-daughter Paige. Robert and Jean found a wonderful church home in Grace Fellowship Presbyterian Church (PCA), Park Hills, Missouri. The church immediately embraced them, pouring into them great love and kindness, easing their transition to their new community.

Robert inherited his love for travel, especially "Out West" to National Parks, from his parents. Following high school graduation, he took three buddies to Rocky Mountain National Park in his 1955 Ford Fairlane 500. He instilled a love for travel in his young children, teaching them to read road maps and to look for remnants of "the old road" along the way. In 1998, Robert and Jean brought his father to see son Edward and family in Alaska. The following year he and Jean brought Ed’s Mother-In-Law Nancy to Alaska, where they travelled and camped along the Arctic Circle in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon Territory. 

He continued to travel into his later years, high points being a 2014 trip with Jean in his beloved Ford Mustang along historic U.S. Route 66 from Illinois to California plus the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley AZ/NM; a 2016 trip to Smoky Mountain National Park and Gatlinburg, TN; a 2017 trip to San Antonio, TX with “his two Colonels” for grandson Mitchell’s Air Force Basic Training Graduation; and a 2018 trip returning to the Black Hills of S. Dakota, visiting grandson Daniel, to son Edward's ranch in the Little Belt Mountains of Montana, visiting Ed, wife Kathy, and grandchildren Mitchell, Nick, and Anna, to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks in Wyoming, to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.

Robert taught his boys and his grandchildren to respect firearms, to shoot safely and well, and how to throw tomahawks and bowie knives. He enjoyed the camaraderie of western mountain man re-enactment, including primitive camping and black powder shooting; and he became an expert fast-draw pistol shot as a member of the Single Action Shooting Society. Robert enjoyed travelling with Jean by motorcycle, touring extensively, sometimes with his sons. He taught his daughter-in-law Kathryn to ride, and allowed her to use his Yamaha 750 for her driver’s license test.

Like many of his generation, Robert had smoked cigarettes from an early age. He loved to tell the story of his three-year-old grand-daughter Anna saying, “Grandpa, you stink!” He walked away from smoking and never considered going back.

Wilbur Robert Lucas is survived by wife, Jean, of Farmington, MO; son, Larry (wife Kathryn) Lucas of Aviston, IL; son, Edward (wife Kathleen) Lucas of Raynesford, MT; grandchildren, Paige (husband Courtney) Collins of St. Louis, MO, Daniel Lucas of Tucson, AZ, Mitchell Lucas of Grand Forks, ND, Nicolas Lucas of Raynesford, MT, and Anna Lucas of Raynesford, MT; and brother, Richard Lucas of Buffalo, IL. He was preceded in death by father, Wilbur Lucas, mother, Naomi Lucas, and younger, brother David Lucas.

A visitation will be held on Saturday, February 1, 2025, from 9 a.m. until the time of the funeral service at 10:30 a.m. at the Grace Fellowship Presbyterian Church in Park Hills, Missouri, with Pastor Allan Harmening officiating. The family requests memorial donations in lieu of flowers or other gifts, which may be given to the Grace Fellowship Presbyterian Church W. Robert Lucas Memorial Piano Fund, 1414 Jennings Road, Park Hills, MO 63601 or the St. Francois County Ambulance Training Center, 820 Electric Street, Farmington, MO 63640. Share your memories and condolences at cozeanfuneralhome.com.