Willie B. Lucas was born on Christmas Eve 1936 in Renova, Mississippi.  The first of four children born to Lillie Bell Rushing and William Hymon Lucas, Sr., Willie B. spent his formative years helping tend to the family farm with his parents and three siblings.  The family moved to Mound Bayou in the early 1940's and he was educated in the Mound Bayou school system.

Willie B. excelled in his academic studies, having graduated from Mound Bayou High School at the age of 16, and entered college at Dillard University in the fall of 1953.  While matriculating at Dillard, he pledged Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity in 1956.  After graduating from Dillard, he pursued and obtained a master's degree in Chemistry from the University of Notre Dame.  After graduating, he returned home to Mound Bayou and began teaching.

Willie B. graduated from Tufts in 1972 and subsequently completed his residency at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee.  In 1977, he returned to Mound Bayou and began working at Delta Health Center.  In 1987, he opened his own medical practice in Greenville, Mississippi- Lucas Family Medical Clinic - where he remained until his retirement in 2017.

He is survived by his wife of 41 years, Dr. Arvis Hawkins Lucas, his children Valerie Williams, Lydia Koltai (Benjamin), and Nadia Bethley; his grandchildren Reginald Chase Williams, Nisa Koltai, Yeshaiah Koltai, Aidan Bethley, Violet Koltai, and Willow Koltai; sisters Arizona Blue, Kathleen Holmes (Arthur), Dorothy Lightfoot, Beatrice Smith, and Cynthia Moore Watson (Wayne); brothers Earl S. Lucas(Marilee), William H. Lucas, Jr. (Jackie), and Darrin Moore; a host of in-laws, nieces and nephews, family and friends.

In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully requests that donations be made to the Delta Health Center Patient Assistance Fund in honor of Willie B. Lucas, M.D. (https://deltahealthcenter.org/donations/patient-asst-fund/).