Walter Lucas

Walter D. Lucas Resident of Danville Walter David Lucas passed away on November 8th, 2009. He died peacefully at the home he designed and built in Danville, California, that he shared with his beloved wife Edith for 30 years. Walter D. Lucas was born in Berkeley, California on September 8, 1921. He was the youngest of three children of Lawrence Lee Lucas and Beulah Comstock Lucas, proceeded by sisters Dawn and Muriel. After graduating from Berkeley High School, he attended UCLA until drafted into the army during WWII. During the war he served in the South Pacific, drafting maps for his battalion group in New Guinea and the Philippines. He was an eyewitness to the official Japanese surrender of Mindanao on September 2, 1945. Upon completion of the war, he returned to Berkeley, where he attended the School of Architecture at UC Berkeley, receiving his architectural degree in June, 1948, and his license in 1956. While he learned the craft of building from his father, a general contractor, his architectural philosophy was greatly influenced by California architects William W. Wurster and Ernest J. Kump. His practice included residential and commercial buildings, churches, schools, and hospital additions. He was recognized by the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association for his addition and remodeling to the Wallen Maybeck house, designed by his father Bernard Maybeck. Throughout his long career, he designed and built three of his own homes, and a cabin for his family at Echo Summit near Lake Tahoe. He is survived by two of his three children from his first marriage with Isabel Richardson: David Paul Lucas, and Heidi Lucas Page. He has one granddaughter, Olivia Lucas Page. Walter Lucas was a good man with a quick laugh and contagious optimism towards life. He will be missed by all who knew and loved him. Please join us for a celebration of his life on Tuesday, December 1, 2009, from 1:00 to 3:00pm, at Oak Hill Park Community Center, 3005 Stone Valley Road, Danville, California 94526.