Maurice Lucas Papers

"Maurice Lucas, 64, 2709 Olive St., died Friday in the United Hospital. He was a professor of early childhood education at the University of North Dakota and one of several retiring faculty members honored in February at the annual UND Founder's Day Banquet. Memorial services will be at 2 p.m. Monday in the Federated Church. Visitation will be after the service there. Arrangements are with the Amundson Funeral Home. The family prefers memorials to the Maurice Lucas Scholarship Fund or the Federated Church. Mr. Lucas was born June 9, 1919, in Eldorado, Kan., attended school at Syracuse, Kan., and served with the U.S. Army during World War II. He married Elizabeth Honstead in April 1964. He graduated from Washburn University in Topeka, Kan., and later taught and earned a master's degree from the University of Kansas in Lawrence. He did post-graduate work from George Peabody University in Nashville, Tenn., before he came to Grand Forks to work in the Early Childhood Education program. He founded the Bek Day Care Center here. He was among the first educators to encourage men to teach in elementary classrooms. His philosophy, according to an article published in the Herald, was that it's not the quantity of time spent with a child that counts, but the quality. Survivors are his wife, sons, Jerald, Scotts Bluff, Neb., Jay, Grand Forks, daughter, Wiletta Stanlake, St. Martin, Minn., nine grandchildren, one great-grandchild, and sister, Marjorie (Mrs. Harold) Niblock, Ramah, Colo." Source: Grand Forks Herald, March 24, 1984

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