Betty Lukas

Quite a life of accomplishments, inspiring me to do more!

Miss you Mom, especially as tomorrow is my birthday and you never forgot my special day.
Your girl loves you and misses you.
Maria

There is so much of Betty in my dear wife Maria. For that, and so much more, I will be forever grateful to my mother-in-law.

I also will never forget her profound, positive impact on my past and future practical, emotional and spiritual life.

The following is from an e-mail I wrote to her on her 90th birthday:

The positive things you have done for me throughout most of my life are immeasurable. They start before I married your daughter and continue today. I will tick...

My dear Betty: I am so blessed to have known you. I thank God every day that you and my father George worked together at the Toledo municipal league all those many years ago and forged an enduring friendship. I thank you for taking me under your wing when I first arrived in Los Angeles. We have enjoyed plays, music, tea and lively discourse. Now that you are in paradise and free of pain, would you please check up on George and make sure he is behaving himself?! Miss you!

Betty was my copy editor when I was a feature writer on the Times and she became a wonderful friend. After I moved back to the south another friend who was dying of AIDS called me to visit her in California, and Betty graciously offered me her house even though she was away for the weekend on a retreat. That's just the kind of caring, compassionate human being she was. I will miss her Christmas notes. My condolences to her family.
Lorraine

Ah, dear Betty , such a fine, kind woman, a great mentor and colleague, possessed of a gentle persistence that was more effective than the hollering of more intense colleagues. She had such an engaged life outside of this newspapering existence, too, and thrived in it -- a lesson for us all. Oh, and she had the loveliest voice; it was a pleasure to be in her wise and insightful company. Please accept my sympathies to you all. -- Patt Morrison

RIP Betty.

Love you Betty

I will miss you a lot, my dear friend from the years at USC.
Rest in Peace.
Eliane