Obituary: Roy Lukes

Roy Lukes wrote nature columns for nearly five decades.

Roy Lukes, 86, died after a long illness on June 26 in Egg Harbor, WI.

He was born in Kewaunee, WI to Adolph Lukes and Esther (Skala) Lukes on August 5, 1929. He married Charlotte Koch on May 27, 1972 in Wauwatosa, WI. She survives him.

After graduating from Kewaunee High School he played trumpet in a dance band and played with the Green Bay Packers Lumberjack Band for two years.

He attended the Door-Kewaunee Teacher’s College for two years and continued his education at the State Teacher’s College in Oshkosh, now known as UW-Oshkosh, graduating in 1953 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Education. He then entered the U.S. Army and served two years at Fort Sill, OK.

He taught elementary science at Shorewood Hills School in Madison for 4 years while working to earn a Master’s Degree in Education by 1959 and went on to teach in Wisconsin Rapids, Cottage Grove and eventually back to the Door-Kewaunee Teacher’s College. It was while teaching there that he learned of a summer job at The Ridges Sanctuary in Baileys Harbor, WI.

Starting in 1966 Roy taught science at the Fish Creek School and Gibraltar School and then developed his own Environmental Education classes which he taught at Gibraltar, Sevastopol and Southern Door Schools until 1976 when The Ridges Sanctuary job became fulltime.

He was the first resident manager and naturalist of The Ridges in 1964 and increased the trail system as more land was purchased and created an educational program, quarterly newsletters, summer tours, early morning bird hikes and Thursday evening nature programs and held the job and President of the board of Directors for nine years. He resigned from The Ridges on September 1, 1990.

Roy began writing weekly nature articles in the summer of 1968 for The Door County Advocate. Later he added the Green Bay Press-Gazette and the Appleton Post Crescent to his weekly writing. He also wrote nature stories for NewMonth magazine and the Door County magazine. In 2008 he began writing for the Peninsula Pulse and Door County Living magazine. He has written over 3,000 weekly nature articles for local papers.

He wrote five books: Once Around the Sun, a Door County Journal; Out on a Limb, A Journal of Wisconsin Birding; The Ridges Sanctuary; Toft Point a Legacy of People and Pines; Tales of the Wild, A Year with Nature.

He loved teaching on nature hikes and in classes at The Clearing and Lawrence University’s Bjorklunden. Roy enjoyed nature photography from 1958 to 2015 and used that skill to illustrate his newspaper and magazine stories. He has matted, framed and sold many of his photographs and exhibited in numerous venues in northeast Wisconsin.

Lawrence University in Appleton presented Roy with an honorary Doctor of Science degree in June 2002. In 2003 UW Oshkosh honored him with a 50^th alumni anniversary award and he received the UWO Chancellor’s Medallion in December 2004.

The Gathering Waters Conservancy presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014 and the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology gave him a Lifetime Achievement award in May of 2015. He received many other civic, literary and environmental awards over his lifetime.

Roy was a life member of The Ridges Sanctuary, The Clearing, the Door County Historical Society and the Friends of Toft Point. He had a close relationship with Miss Emma Toft and the Toft family and was instrumental in forming the Friends of Toft Point, Inc., helping the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay to preserve the wildness of this State Natural Area.

He leaves one sister, Linda (Jerry) Neumann, and two brothers, Leo (Ruth) and Richard (Rita) and a sister-in-law, Margaret Kressin, and many nieces and nephews. His parents and older brother, Ivan, preceded him.

Memorials can be made to The Door County Land Trust (PO Box 65, Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235), The Nature Conservancy (633 W Main St., Madison, WI 53703), Birch Creek Music Performance Center (PO Box 230, Egg Harbor, WI 54209), The Peninsula Music Festival (PO Box 340, Ephraim, WI 54211) or Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Door County (PO Box 859, Sister Bay, WI 54234) or to the nature organization of your choice.

Countless thanks go to the many friends who have helped us through these last ten months and to the wonderful people at Unity Hospice who have given such great care.

A celebration of his life will be held on Sunday, August 7, 2016 at 1:30 pm at the Door Community Auditorium, Fish Creek, WI

Roy exemplified this: To be a good teacher, never stop learning!