A life well lived: Mary Hill Lucik reflects on life, family and volunteerism

Published 10:30 am Sunday, November 18, 2018

On the surface, Mary Hill Lucik is a discreet and traditional southern woman who goes about her life at a quiet but steady pace. Yet, a closer observation of her 85 years on earth brings a more complex picture into focus — a life that radiates courage, strength, kindness, unexpected humor, and the love of community.

Lucik was born in 1933 in Birmingham, Ala. but moved a few years later with her family to Maryville, Tenn. After graduating high school, she quickly married and started a family, but at age 26 suddenly found herself widowed with her two small children. 

It was the early 1960s and prospects for women were limited at best. She was commuting a farther distance than she would have liked to her bookkeeping position at a Levi Strauss & Company factory. 

She eventually found an affordable house and visited her local bank for a mortgage loan — that’s where her dream was nearly deferred. 

“I knew that being a widow with small children and on a limited salary meant that I might be denied but I really did not expect to endure the unpleasantness that occurred,” she said. 

Unpleasantness? How about vile and just down-right rude — as we say here in the south. 

“He laughed in my face and told me that no woman without a husband had ever been granted a mortgage from his bank and I would not be the first. I asked him if I could just fill the papers out and he said no — multiple times — but when he realized I was not leaving, he relented with disgust.” 

She filed the loan application and left the bank to drive home but soon had to pull to the side of the road when she became overwhelmed with despair. 

“I just started bawling and felt so defeated. I didn’t know how I would make a good life for my family.”

Three weeks later, her determination — and good credit — paid off. The banker, at first so disparaging, called back with good news. She became the first single woman the bank gave a mortgage to-and that, according to Lucik, was gratifying.

Mary would meet her future husband a couple of years later, Dr. Thomas W. Lucik, a clinical psychologist who was studying at the nearby University of Tennessee at Knoxville. They married in 1962 and moved with their two children to Milledgeville, allowing him to take a position on staff at Central State Hospital. 

In addition to his job at CSH, Dr. Lucik operated a private practice where she served as his office manager. She was not only his wife and business partner, but also served, for their entire marriage, as his physical guide. Dr. Lucik was legally blind from a genetic disorder-but he nor she ever let that limit their lives. 

A few months after the move, they began visiting churches in search of the right fit for the entire family. 

“I was Baptist, and he was Episcopalian, so we settled on becoming Presbyterian — we compromised.” 

She has served First Presbyterian Church of Milledgeville in numerous capacities since joining, including as a much-revered elder. She is a faithful keeper of the Communion table and volunteers at the church’s once a month luncheon for out-of-town families visiting incarcerated loved ones in the local prisons. 

In 1963, a neighbor invited her to a meeting of the Milledgeville Junior Woman’s Club, an organization of ladies that were well-known in the community for their benevolent works. 

The club ignited in Lucik a deep love of volunteerism and nurtured the connection to the community she had so greatly desired. She was not only becoming a hardworking member but soon started to rise to positions of leadership. 

“Throughout my years as a Junior, I served in every executive position except for president and worked on all of the department committees,” she said. 

In addition to club work at that time, she volunteered independently with the March of Dimes and the Red Cross, was a member of the Milledgeville Little Theatre and a patron of the Community Concert Association. She also served on the Mary Vinson Library Board of Trustees. 

A treasured memory from when she served as a library trustee is the time she met then-Gov. Jimmy Carter, who was traveling through Milledgeville on his 1976 presidential campaign. 

“He admired Congressman Carl Vinson (D-Georgia) and stopped by the library to view the documents we had on him. So, I’ve met an actual United States President, which is pretty great.” 

She has numerous memories from being an MJWC member, but one stands out — her nomination to the Georgia State Mother of the Year contest. As a nominee, she attended a luncheon in Atlanta, which included meeting the former First Lady of the United States Mamie Eisenhower.

“I noticed when I arrived that I was the youngest woman in the room,” said Mary. “I had my children young and most of the nominated women looked as if they might have grandchildren. When I greeted Mrs. Eisenhower, she told me that I couldn’t be old to belong in this group — she and I had a good laugh about it.”

After spending several years as a Junior, Mary “graduated” to the Milledgeville Civic Woman’s Club.

Her favorite GaFWC/GFWC department is the Home Life Community Service Program, which represents work that improves family health.

For her tireless volunteer work, she has received numerous awards and accolades, including the MJWC Maxine Goldstein Clubwoman of the Year Award and Family of the Year. She was included in the 1966 edition of Outstanding Young Women of America. 

In 2016, she received her 50-year GFWC pin marking years of selfless dedication to her community, state, and country through club work. 

“Mary has been in the Woman’s Club for over 50 years, which says a lot about her dedication to improving the community in which we live. She has served in various positions in the club including club president, Home Life chairman and currently serving as secretary. Her service and dedication to our community is an inspiration to us all.  We all enjoy working with her and she is a wealth of knowledge of our history,” said Suzanne Martin Ratliff, a past-president of both MJWC and MCWC. 

In the early 1990s, she joined the Nancy Hart Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). The nonprofit is comprised of women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States’ effort toward independence. They work to promote historic preservation, education and patriotism. 

Her favorite work with the DAR includes the restoration and upkeep of soldiers’ graves located inside Memory Hill Cemetery. She was also instrumental in getting a chapter of the Children of the American Revolution started in Milledgeville. 

If all this mentioned wasn’t enough for one person to claim, Mary added awarding-winning short story author to her resume. 

“I write mostly about family from a humorist viewpoint. We all have funny stories in our family history and I enjoy writing about them,” she said. 

Indeed, Lucik has accomplished much but she still places the highest value on her family. Son Donald is a retired pharmaceutical executive and daughter Judy is a retired schoolteacher. She has five grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren. Dr. Lucik passed away in 2017 and is greatly missed by each family member but especially his wife. 

The Georgia Federation of Women’s Clubs borrows a quote from St. Francis of Assisi to inspire their members and it fits perfectly to the life Lucik has lived. 

“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”