Obituary for DonPaul Lucas
Received Congressional Certificate of Merit
DonPaul Lucas, 50, 1147 W. 24th St., Erie, passed away Monday, Dec. 1, 2003, at Hamot Medical Center from complications due to AIDS.
He was born March 27, 1953, in Pittsburgh, son of Merna C. Alberts of Greensburg and the late James W. Lucas.
DonPaul Lucas was a giant of a man, both in stature and in his sense of service to the community. Most recently, as a volunteer with Camp Hot-to-Clot, a summer camp for children with bleeding disorders that he and his wife, Jackie, started in 2001, he gave of himself tirelessly. Not to be slowed down by the daily pain of arthritis and by the joint assault of HIV and Hepatitis C, DonPaul gave of himself fully and in a manner that was gentle, gracious and amiable, whether he was walking on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC to fight for the rights of the bleeding disorders and HIV/AIDS communities or talking to one of his campers. The legacy of DonPaul Lucas will live on forever in the hearts of all who had the opportunity to meet him.
As a volunteer for the National Hemophilia Foundation and various AIDS service organizations, he received the Ryan White Award and the Congressional Certificate of Merit. He was an HIV/AIDS educator for NW PA Rural AIDS Alliance and frequently spoke with the media as a person living with HIV. In the mid-1990s, he often wrote about HIV/AIDS issues for Erie Gay News.
DonPaul was as wholistic healer and licensed hypnotist who owned and operated The Angel and The Eagle relaxation center in 1998 and 1999 with his wife Jackie. He was a jeweler who owned Cocoon with Tina Loomis in the mid-1990s.
He enjoyed fishing and working with computers.
He was preceded in death by a brother, Richard A. Lucas.
Survivors include his wife of 30 years, Jacqueline L. McDonough Lucas; three sons, Shawn M. Lucas and his wife, Christine, of Sunderland, Mass., and Timothy P. Lucas and his wife, Lindsay, and Zachary D. Lucas, all of Erie; a sister, Sandra Ruggiero of Greensburg; and a grandson.
He was buried at Restland Memorial Park, Monroeville.
Memorials may be made to the National Hemophilia Foundation, Western Pennsylvania Chapter, 532 S. Aiken Ave., Suite 102, Pittsburgh, PA 15232.
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