Essay 3 Maurice Luck
Maurice Luck
I went to Keystone Bluffs for an essay assignment and got to meet a wonderful and inspiring couple that I have learned so much from, but what I’ve learned most from Maurice and Mildred is that “Family is the greatest gift of all.”
Maurice Luck was born on May 19th, 1917 in Brainerd Minnesota. When he was only two years old his father past away, which wasn’t really easy for his mother who then became a widow raising Maurice along with his 3 other sisters. A few years later his mother remarried and had 2 twin boys from another guy. About 6 years went by and his mother past away he was only ten years old at the time, he had to stay with his oldest sister who took him in like he was her own.
Maurice Luck is a brother, husband, father and what I could call a hero. He joined the Army in the year of 1941, and became an officer until 1949. Not long after he was done with the military he met his future wife Mildred Zealah Stark. They met during WWII, it all began at a cocktail lounge when him and a friend from the military went up to Mildred and her sister and asked to buy them drinks. Lucky Luck was what Mildred called him for a nickname. He said that his wife thought of that nickname, because “he was lucky be with a girl like me.” Lucky asked Mildred to marry him in 1949, he was 32 years old and she was 34. They were on a vacation that started off to a wonderful start. Lucky got down on one knee and said, “ I think we should get married, what do you think?” They both decided to keep their wedding ceremony only for immediate family, but after the wedding Lucky’s sister through them a big party.
A year later they had their first child Jan in 1950. They lived in a hotel in St. Louis until they could find an apartment they liked. When I asked Mildred and Lucky what one of their favorite memories with their daughter Jan when she was a baby, they both said, “bringing her everywhere they went.” A year and a half later they moved to Duluth Minnesota, where they then found a two-bedroom home on Lakeside. His wife was a stay at home mother, and he owned his own convenience store on 4th street where he worked for 25 years.
In 1957 on Friday the 13th, their youngest child Jeff was born. One of Lucky and Mildred’s favorite memories of him when he was a child was when he cut his own hair at the age of 3. The way Lucky and Mildred talked about there children and family showed me how much they loved and cared for each other, and I could tell that they were all a big part of his life.
One of lucky’s favorite things to do on his free time was go golfing. His wife decided she wanted to start so he decided to give her a few lessons. Another thing that him and his wife loved to do together was go dancing on a Saturday night. Going to there cabin was another one of his favorite things to do with his family and even his friends. He loved to fish, “ I caught some pretty good size fish,” Lucky said to me. Their cabin was on the beautiful Island Lake in Minnesota. “It was a great lake to go swimming with friends and family,” his wife Mildred said.
His favorite holiday was Christmas time; his wife would hang stockings and bake cakes, and ginger bread. One of his all time favorite meals that Mildred would cook was “Her southern fried chicken, her mother’s recipe.”
Keystone Bluffs is the nursing home where after being together for 50 years Lucky and Mildred are now living. They are so happy to be with each other, and are still so in love after so many years. Lucky is now 90 years old and Mildred is 92.