Remarks for Phil Lucas Memorial

President Jean Floten

February 8, 2007

Mary Lou, Phil’s wife; Phil’s children, Josh, Jason, Jessy, Amra and Sara; family, friends; and colleagues,

I am Jean Floten, president of Bellevue Community College.  It is my privilege to represent the BCC college family today in honoring Phil.

Phil was not just a great teacher.  He was an extraordinary person and an inspiration to his students and to all of us who knew him.

In remembering Phil I have so many images of him, as a musician, teacher, healer, husband, father, elder, director, producer, expert consultant, storyteller.

A common thread through this montage of images of Phil, as seen through my mind’s eye, is very bright light.  Phil’s inner light burned very brightly.  In fact, Phil was all about light.  “Light gives of itself freely… It does not seek anything in return;…  It gives of itself and is not…  diminished.” 

• Phil ignited the lamp of learning and the light of understanding in his students.
  

• Phil’s face lit up with such friendship, warmth and inclusiveness, whenever he spoke with you; and what most likely would follow was, yes, a corny joke.
  

• Phil lighted the sacred herb of sage so that the cleansing and healing smoke would purify us, our space, and our ceremonies.  
  

• Phil shone a light on the culture and the struggles of Native Americans and other indigenous peoples that we all might better understand.
  

• His work the Honour of All, about the Alkali Lake Band of Indians who conquered alcoholism, illumined a pathway for native recovery movements around the world.
  

• Phil’s artistic medium was light.  Everything he communicated through his productions was conveyed on beams of light.

This was his gift; light, light that sears and breaks down old ways of seeing and doing. Light that illuminates. 

One light can light thousands of candles, as Phil has done in the lives he has touched through his teaching and productions. 

Today, I light three candles in Phil’s memory.

• The first is for his family – and for all of us. May this light help to ease the heavy burden of loss we feel without Phil. May we provide and derive comfort from each other during this time of sorrow.  

• The second candle is for the lessons that Phil has taught all of us – students and colleagues alike -- to meet life undaunted, to know no barriers, to pursue those things that are most important to us boldly and energetically and passionately.
   

• The third candle is in recognition of the profound, positive impact Phil had on the American Indian community, the attitudes of our nation, our world, and all of us in this room.

Phil was such an important part of us, and we feel his loss deeply. However, just as we can continue to see the light of a star that was extinguished centuries ago, we will continue to be illuminated by the intense light that Phil left behind from his too brief visit on this earth.  

Yesterday, the Board of Trustees of Bellevue Community College asked me to convey this resolution to Phil’s family today.

Whereas, Phil Lucas, a respected and valued Bellevue Community College film-making instructor and faculty colleague for the past eight years, has made major contributions to teaching and learning at the College; and

Whereas, Mr. Lucas, a Choctaw Native American who was one of the nation’s foremost Native American film-makers and a pioneering creative force in the American Indian community, dedicated his life to dispelling stereotypes about American Indians; and

Whereas, Mr. Lucas, internationally revered, Emmy Award-winning producer, director and writer of more than 100 feature films, television series and documentaries and influential consultant on accurate portrayal of American Indians and their culture, worked tirelessly for equity and fairness; and

Whereas, Mr. Lucas, who founded the Bellevue Community College’s annual American Indian Film Festival, generously shared his vast knowledge and experience to educate the campus community and public at large about the culture and struggles of American Indians and indigenous peoples world-wide; and

Whereas, Mr. Lucas leaves a creative legacy that provides important historical documentation of the American Indian experience; and, 

Whereas, the Bellevue Community College Board of Trustees wishes to acknowledge the profound impact that Mr. Lucas has had on Bellevue Community College as well as on inter-cultural understanding nation- and world-wide;

Now, therefore be it resolved, on this the 7th of February 2007, the Board of Trustees of Bellevue Community College awards posthumously the tenure Phil Lucas earned at the college and extends its most profound sorrow and condolences to his family. 

In losing Phil we have lost a friend, an inspiration, an artist, an educator, a story-teller, a mentor, a catalyst, an historian, a pioneer, an agent of change, and a man who made the world a better place for the rest of us.

But he leaves for us not only a body of artistic work with an importance of its own, but a legacy of love and commitment that we all can carry forward, as inspiration, to light our daily lives.

To Phil, with our love, from your friends and colleagues at BCC.

 February 8, 2007

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