Lucas M Voellinger Obituary (1988 - 2019)

Lucas M Voellinger passed away on Thursday, September 12, 2019 at the age of 31. Luke had a highly successful life filled with scholarly and athletic achievements. He was especially proud of winning the Bayer National Science Foundation's Grand Prize for his work on eradicating Eurasian Water Milfoil from freshwater lakes, and being one of four finalists at UW-Madison as founder and president of Brightwater Solutions-creating clean water in underdeveloped and poverty-stricken areas of the world. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from UW Madison Business School double majoring in Entrepreneurship and Marketing. He was also proud of his first job as Marketing Analyst for Hewlett Packard and moving out to California. Athletically, Luke was most proud of breaking the LUHS track record for high hurdles in 2007; a record which still stands to this day, as well as placing 4th in the state track meet two years in a row. He was also proud of his time spent on the UW Madison Track team. He loved soccer, which he played the majority of his life and was especially proud of the year he won an award for most goals scored for the LUHS Varsity team. Summers, he enjoyed golf, baseball (which he later gave up to be able to fish on summer days at his beloved home on Hill Lake), and in the winter, he loved snowboarding. During the last seven years of his life, he fought a valiant battle with mental illness, which stole his ability to feel joy and hope. His father, Joe, moved to California to live with him when things got difficult, then Luke moved to Utah in 2016 and spent the last four years of his life living in a beautiful little home with his two beloved dogs, Max and Dave, in close proximity to his mother, Patricia, his brother, Logan and his sister, Danielle. Luke was an excellent writer and much of his time was spent working on his book to help others understand mental illness. He always enjoyed time spent with his family, golfing with his mother or brother, taking the dogs for a walk, sitting on the porch together, going out for lunch or dinner, and our monthly Family Dinners. Taken from recent writings of Luke, "I have fallen in love with my family so much over the course of these past 30 years." On August 31st, he celebrated his Golden Birthday with a camping trip with his mother, brother and step-father, Larry, bowling, golfing with his mother, brother and Larry, going to the movies and having his Aunt Karen visit and celebrating with multiple birthday dinners. He enjoyed the conversations he had with his two best friends, Kate and Jimmy, who were also always there for him, as well as many phone calls from his Aunt Karen, Grandma Shep, and other family and friends. He continued to have a quick wit, warm smile and a soft heart filled with compassion, and he will be sorely missed by all who loved him. Lucas is survived by his brother Logan Voellinger, sister Danielle Voellinger, mother Patricia Shepard (Larry Beddome), father Joe Voellinger, grandmother Geraldine Shepard-Willet and numerous aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.