Dr. James E. Luckey

DR. JAMES EDWARD LUCKEY, 87, died Wednesday, June 26, 2019, of cardiac arrest after a long illness. He passed in Cle Elum, Wash., his beloved summer home, where he umpired the seasonal battle between his tomato plants and local deer. Jim grew up in tiny Wolf Lake, Ind., and assumed the renowned medical mantle of his grandfather, founder of the Luckey Hospital, now a museum on the National Register of Historic Places. Jim trained as an anesthesiologist at the Indiana University School of Medicine and spent over 40 years plying the gas in Fort Wayne, Ind. An ornery storyteller, Jim liked to boast of his youthful romantic triumphs (Marilyn Monroe in a sleeping bag) and the thousands of fish similarly conquered. A more avid fan of IU basketball cannot be found. He loved to play golf and watch it on TV. From grade school until his final days, he could recite by heart John Masefield's poem 'Spanish Waters'. No small feat. His favorite compliment? "He's a hard son-of-a-bitch not to like". Jim is survived by his wife, Lois Anne Rothert; his children by first marriage to Sandra McComas Luckey, Susan Luckey (Jon) Bahr, Joseph (Tracy) Luckey, and John Luckey; grandchildren, David, Andrew and Ian Bahr; great-grandchildren, Lydia and Edson Bahr, all of Fort Wayne. Also aggrieved is Buster, his 15-year-old Jack Russell Terrier, of Fort Wayne and Cle Elum, Wash. No memorial is planned at this time. Jim was above all a man of Science, and donated his remains to medicine. In lieu of gifts, the family requests to inspire sensible stewardship of the planet, to plant a tree or two in Jim's honor.  Steward & Williams Funeral Home and Crematory of Ellensburg was entrusted with local arrangements.