In January 2022, Highlands lost a dear friend, a fierce advocate for those in need, and a great cultivator of beauty.
Chad Lucas was born in Alexandria, Virginia on Oct. 8, 1965. At age eight, his family moved from Memphis, to Beckley, WV, where he spent the rest of his childhood.
He attended Woodrow Wilson High School in Beckley from 1980-1982, and graduated from the Darlington School in Rome, GA in 1984. He went to UNC Greensboro from 1984-86 and moved on to graduate from The Art Institute of Atlanta in 1989. Following graduation, Chad moved to New York for three years working in various fields of commercial design.
Relocating to Myrtle Beach, SC in 1992, within a year he co-founded CARETEAM, a nonprofit serving people with HIV/AIDS. CARETEAM began as a buddy program but quickly grew into an organization providing medical care, case management, housing assistance, and support to those infected with and affected by HIV and AIDS in nine counties in SC.
The AIDS pandemic was young in SC in the 90s, and people who were HIV positive were hesitant to seek help for fear of judgment and isolation. Countless individuals were served by CARETEAM, thanks to Chad’s dedication and determination to help. During the 25th anniversary celebration of CARETEAM, the mayor awarded Chad Lucas the key to the city of Myrtle Beach in gratitude and recognition for his work. CARETEAM still exists today, fulfilling Chad’s vision everyday by helping the most vulnerable South Carolina residents and caring for those in the most need.
In 1998, he visited a friend in Highlands to enhance his knowledge of palliative care and quickly took to all the mountains had to offer. With absolute and resolute confidence CARETEAM was in the capable hands of a “caring team” of like-minded, compassionate individuals he had helped to assemble, who would continue to carry out the founding principles of the CARETEAM mission, later in 1998, Chad left the seashore and climbed, and climbed, and climbed the mountain to settle in Highlands, bringing his compassion and desire to make the world better and beautiful with him. And as he usually did, he sought ways he might best serve his new community, quickly realizing that was through his creativity. So, in 1999, he opened his business, Lucas Patton Design. It’s hard to count the number of people in Highlands who benefitted from Chad’s generosity and unmatched talent as a designer. His clients were more than friends; they became family.
Chad served Highlands with energy, intelligence, imagination, compassion and love as a board member of, and volunteer for the Community Care Clinic and as an elder at First Presbyterian Church. He sought out the brokenhearted, offered healing to the wounded, and shared grace with those who needed it most. His love will forever be woven into the life of the community.
Lucas is survived by his parents, Charles F. and Carolyn Patton Lucas, and his brother, Christopher Patton Lucas, all of Beckley, WV. He is preceded in death by his grandparents Raymond Patton and Hazel Patton Magee, and RJ and Polly Lucas.
A memorial service will be held Sunday, April 3, 2022, at First Presbyterian Church in Highlands at 2 p.m., in the Sanctuary. A reception will follow.