By CHRISTINE BOATWRIGHT / Staff Writer

WILTON – Hubert Leon Lucas Sr. served the town of Wilton for more than 35 years. At the age of 85, Lucas passed away on Sept. 26.

Lucas was born and raised in north Chilton County on Alabama 73 south of Montevallo in an area called “Lucas Town,” as many of his family members lived in the area, son Leon Lucas Jr. said.

Leon Lucas said his family moved to Montevallo in 1954, and his father took a job with Westinghouse Electric. In the early 80s, the plan shut down, but Lucas never officially retired.

“He never did fully retire,” Leon Lucas said. “He was one of those who couldn’t sit still.”

Lucas made handmade knives, carved wooden animals, built cabinets, built his own shop and “just did everything. You hear ‘jack of all trades, master of none,’ well, he was one,” Leon Lucas said.

Leon Lucas said he grew up in “Mayberry, Alabama,” and remembers his father taking him hunting and fishing, “the normal things people do in Alabama.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better one (father),” he said. “He was always there. One thing that always amazed me, I would ask him something and he’d never tell me what to do. He’d say, ‘Think about this or that, then you need to decide.’ He’d give you a little advice, and that was about it. Wilton’s going to miss Daddy.”

Wilton Town Clerk April Price called Lucas “incredible.”

“He’s irreplaceable,” she said. “There was not anything he couldn’t touch that he couldn’t grow or fix. If we had a problem down here (at Town Hall), if we couldn’t solve it, he was our go-to guy. He was an incredible, awesome man.”

Wilton Mayor Joe Fancher said he would have to sit down “for hours” to calculate all that Lucas did for the community.

“He’s going to be missed. Even at that age, he’s going to be missed. He was just as sharp as he could be. You could just talk on and on about him, and it’d all be good,” Fancher said. “Wilton was really lucky to have him through the years. I could stay all day and not say everything about Hubert. It’s just something we hate, have no control over. We’re going to miss him.

“I can’t imagine being down there without him,” he added.

Lucas was preceded in death by his wife, Louise A. Lucas; brothers, Curtis, Ralph and Carl Lucas; and sister, Martha Ann Spain. He is survived by sons, Leon Lucas Jr. (Jenny) of Alabaster and John Lucas (Linda) of Calera; grandsons, Brian (Sherry), Kevin and Michael Lucas; and a great-granddaughter, Alexis Lucas.