Marilyn Ann Lucas

Marilyn Ann Lucas Lucas (not a typo, once by birth and again by marriage) meant so much to so many across the phases of her life. Born in a downtown Memphis hospital in 1944, Marilyn grew up across the river in small towns in Arkansas, picking cotton with her four older brothers and two younger sisters. Their father, a Navy veteran, Jabe Lucas, was killed by a drunk driver when Marilyn was ten. Her mother, Effie, took in sewing and farmed to support her family; nurturing her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren until she passed at the age of 81. As a teen, Marilyn worked grading peaches and chickens. She tried waitressing for one day, deciding quickly it was not for her.

Marilyn moved to Memphis at age 19 where she did office work and attended college. At one of her jobs, she was introduced to another Lucas to whom she was not related, and they began dating. She ran Maxwell Davis Lucas Jr.’s successful 1966 Tennessee House of Representatives campaign and married him after managing his 1967 campaign for City Council. Marilyn gained a stepdaughter, Katherine Jennings Lucas Hall, and a lifelong friend in Max Jr.’s college roommate B.T. Harris, M.D. Marilyn and Max Jr. welcomed a son, Maxwell Davis Lucas III and later a daughter, Cynthia P. Lucas.

By then, both of Marilyn’s sisters had followed her to Memphis, though they both would move away later. At the time, her sister B was often mistaken for Marilyn out in public, causing many amusing conversations as they straightened people out about who was where when. Her sister Hazel married and gave Marilyn’s children cousins of similar ages. Marilyn was a single, stay-at-home mom, garden club member, camp counselor, and Cub Scout pack leader before she returned to work when her children both reached double digits, working up to being the office manager at Cardiology Associates at the St. Francis Hospital.

Her niece Becky, who was more like a daughter, and Becky’s children Chelsea, Anna, and Hilary Chittom, along with Marilyn’s youngest niece, Jennifer Lucas, gave Marilyn her first round of “grandkids” to enjoy and mentor. During this time, Marilyn also connected with her future son-in-law Jeff Sulla with whom she had many inside jokes over their 37 years of knowing each other, such as teaching live lobsters to square dance, and “it comes in a bowl.” After her children launched, Marilyn moved back to what she considered her hometown of Forrest City, Arkansas; taking art classes and working before choosing in 2004 to join her adult children and sisters who had all since settled in the Nashville area. This move also allowed Marilyn and her daughter-in-law, who knew each other 26 years, to deepen their own inside jokes, such as Marilyn being a double Lucas while Jessica was "Moore" Lucas, and about starting a business called Lucas Lucas & Moore-Lucas. Marilyn helped raise her five beloved grandchildren, Tabitha, Tristan, and Tiernan Sulla (Cynthia’s children with her husband Jeff Sulla), and Marilyn Katherine and Maxwell IV (Max III’s children with his wife Jessica Moore-Lucas).

Marilyn was active in every part of her neighborhood, Lenox Village, getting Nashville to make her street the only one in the development with parking on one side of the street, serving on the neighborhood landscaping committee, and being active with the HOA. Throughout her life, she shared her love of culture, food, plants, and especially art with all the children in her family and her neighborhoods. One thing you could always count on was whenever you returned to Marilyn’s home: the furniture would be rearranged and new art would often appear on the walls. Many family members' homes are also blessed with her artwork.

She loved hummingbirds, unicorns, and frogs. She loved to walk alone or accompanied by friends or family. Her favorite pets were always the dogs who could join her on the walks: Trubloff, Guru, Benji, and finally her beloved Clark. She loved her other pets: Borka the cat and Grif the bird but neither took well to leashes.

Marilyn hated flying, but white-knuckled it as she enjoyed travel. She and Max Jr. traveled to Europe while leaving their toddlers in the care of her sister Hazel. Later, Marilyn would pack up her young kids and drive across the country to see her sister Hazel, taking trips to Niagara Falls with Hazel and her sons, Chris and Greg Flatt, among other adventures in Chicago and New Jersey. There were family vacations to Florida and Georgia to see her sister B, and numerous family wedding trips across the country. More recently, one of Marilyn’s favorites was to go to Disney World with Cynthia’s mother-in-law, Laura, as her partner in crime in letting the grandchildren run wild safely. Marilyn also loved visiting Max III’s in-laws, Bob and Carol, in Michigan and hosting them when they came to Tennessee to visit their shared grandchildren. Marilyn always considered herself blessed with the families of her son-in-law and daughter-in-law, and her own sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law, and enjoyed hosting family at her Nashville home.

Painting with Marilyn Katherine and taking walks with Maxwell IV in Lenox Village brought Marilyn great joy. Marilyn will be remembered not as a perfect person, but as a vibrant embracer of life who was loving and well-loved. Laughing in the face of hard times, finding the silver lining, and forging a path forward to accomplish what others thought she could not were some of her superpowers. Fiercely loyal, Marilyn was one of the best to have by your side. She will be missed by so many in all the places she shared her big, creative, fun spirit while she traveled this earth.

A bright star faded peacefully into the heavens Thursday, October 1, 2026 with loved ones at her bedside for her passing. She was preceded in death by her parents: Jabe and Effie Lucas; the father of her children: Maxwell D. Lucas Jr.; and her brothers: Lloyd, Marvin, Melvin, and Cecil Lucas. She is survived by her sisters: Hazel Lucas and B Thrower (Mike); her children: Maxwell D. Lucas III (Jessica Moore-Lucas) and Cynthia P. Lucas, Ph.D. (Jeff Sulla); her stepdaughter Katherine Jennings Lucas Hall (Richard); and her five grandchildren: Tabitha, Tristan, and Tiernan Sulla and Marilyn Katherine and Maxwell D. Lucas IV.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to honor her memory go to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, the Alzheimer’s Association, or the American Heart Association. Details will be shared when available regarding a celebration of life in the coming months before her ashes are laid to rest with her mother in Cogbill Cemetery in Wynne, Arkansas.