Tomiko Kumamoto Lucas

Tomiko Kumamoto Lucas joined her beloved husband, Bob, in paradise on April 19, 2024.  She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, sister, daughter, aunt, and friend. She lived a long, eventful life, which, in certain respects, was comprised of two lifetimes.   Her first life began on February 1, 1925, when she was born into a large family of seven children in Fukuoka, Japan. She had a challenging childhood and adolescence helping on the family’s farm, surviving a three-month, life-threatening lung infection that afflicted her at 16 years of age, and living through the tumult of the Second World War.  At the same time, she enjoyed school and its extracurricular activities, especially participating in running events. As a young adult, she was the top salesperson in a high-end gift store where she worked for several years.

She set off on what may be considered her second life when she emigrated to the United States after World War II.  She learned to speak, write and read English in short order as she earned her citizenship while also completing her education.  She was employed continually until she retired in her mid-seventies, working first as a seamstress and then for many years in the kitchen at the Ft. Bliss Officers Club, where long-time patrons acknowledged her excellence in food preparation and customer service.

A major part of her second life commenced when she married Robert Lucas, the love of her life for 33 years of marriage and 11 years of widowhood.  While Bob found a profoundly devoted wife, little did the rest of the Lucas’ know that they were getting such a loving addition to their family, for Tomiko considered Bob’s immediate and extended relatives as her own.  She treated step-sons, Grant and Mark, as her sons, and daughters-in-law, Pat and Faith, as daughters.  They in turn saw Tomiko as a mother to them. When Grant and Pat were blessed with their son, Robert, she became a doting grandmother. Bob’s parents were dear to her, and she cared for Bob’s father in their home for 5 years before his death at age 95.  Suffice it to say that Tomiko was held in high esteem by the remainder of her in-laws.

However, she never left her first life behind. She travelled to Japan for month-long visits as her work schedule and resources allowed.  She often reminisced about her especially close relationship with her departed mother, regularly spoke and corresponded with many of her siblings, kept abreast of the news regarding her numerous nieces and nephews, remembered birthdays, celebrated weddings and births, and mourned deaths.   Her sole relative residing in the states, a grandnephew, Shoji Kumamoto of New York City, corresponded with her and visited her at home as his career allowed. 

All who survive Tomiko will miss her warm and caring presence. We are comforted knowing she was ready to end her journey in this world and move on to a life of peace in the hereafter.

Visitation for Tomiko will be May 13, 2024, from 4-8 pm at the Sunset Funeral Home, Northeast. Funeral services will be held at the same location at noon on May 14, 2024, followed by an internment service at 1:30 pm at the Ft. Bliss National Cemetery.  In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to Hospice of El Paso.