Alice Marie Lucke took leave of her earthly existence on Monday, June 17, 2019, to join her husband, son, family and friends in everlasting life. Alice was a devoted wife and mother, compassionate to friends and generous to strangers, a deeply religious Roman Catholic. She had a pure soul. Her grace can be attributed to her upbringing, her faith and the kindness of others. Because of the aforementioned, when times were trying and nearly unmanageable, she remained stoic, steadfast and spiritual during the many tribulations in her life.
Alice was born to Maria and Giovanni Cattelan in 1923 in Glencoe, Wyoming, now a ghost town. However, she grew up in the tiny town of Diamondville, Wyoming. She was a coal miner’s daughter. Times were a little better, moving from a shack to a tiny home that housed her parents and five children; no running water, no indoor plumbing for baths, an outhouse in the backyard, scrubbing clothes down at the river. Giovanni, and his ‘amici’, made extra money by bootlegging from 1919 to 1933, a fact she strongly protested. Moonshining provided some relief from life’s desperations. One of his many copper stills, which her father and friends fashioned, is in the Wyoming museum along with news articles and the photos of the Feds who busted their operation, while never being able to identify and capture the ‘Desperati Italiani’, as this was a snitch-free area made up of an eclectic number of immigrants who had each others’ backs.
Alice is survived by her son, Laurence John, and her twin girls, Judith and Janice, along with various nephews, nieces, cousins and in-laws. Her grandchildren and great-grandchildren were the highlights of her twilight years.
Alice was the middle child of five children, outliving them all. She was preceded in death by her husband, Laurence H Lucke, to whom she had been married for 60 years. He was her main baby. She was also preceded in death by her son, Joseph Roy, who lies resting next to his father, Laurence. She will be reposed alongside them in the Elma Catholic Cemetery.
My mother loved flowers, but she would prefer money be spent spoiling your children/grandchildren, donations to charities, kindness to the needy. Her favorite philanthropies were either Lutheran, Catholic, multiple sclerosis or military foundations, such as St. Jude’s, whereas 82 cents of every dollar received goes to support patients and research, or The National MS Society which meets all 20 BBB Wise Giving Alliance Standards. Also, there are 10 highly rated wounded Veteran charities; three of the top are: The Gary Sinise Foundation, Semper Fi Fund and Special Operations Warrior Foundation. All three have a four star plus impact rating by the Military Charity Navigator due to the best financial practices and impact.
A Roman Catholic funeral Mass will be held at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Elma, Washington on Monday, July 8, 2019 at 11 a.m. Visitation will take place from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the church before the service. Burial will follow the service at St. Joseph’s Catholic Cemetery. A celebration of Alice’s life will follow back at the church’s fellowship hall.
Arrangements are entrusted to Twibell’s Fern Hill Funeral Home in Aberdeen.
