Family, politicians mourn veteran Republican from MS Coast. ‘She made me a better person’

The governor says his family is heartbroken. The attorney general has lost a friend. And of all the mourners grieving the sudden death this week of Jeanne Luckey, a veteran Republican force in Mississippi and national politics, none have lost more than her husband, Alwyn.

“The most important thing I can say about Jeanne,” he said, “is that she made me a better person than I otherwise would have been.”

The people who knew her call her fearless.

She grew up in Biloxi and lived in Ocean Springs. She spent three decades driving action in the Republican Party, first in her local Republican women’s club, later on campaigns and even when a car crash left her in a wheelchair three days after Hurricane Katrina.

She kept working. She was president of the Mississippi Federation of Republican Women. She also held several board positions at the National Federation of Republican Women. She became co-chairman of the Mississippi Republican Party.

She was also a Republican National Committeewoman. This year, in Milwaukee, she was one of the Republican National Convention’s first speakers.

“She was a driving force in Republican politics in this state and in this country,” Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said. “I don’t know any person that ran for a Republican office,” he added, “that did not seek her advice.”

Luckey died peacefully in her sleep at home on Thursday, her husband said. She is also survived by two daughters, Laurel and Taylor, and her grandchildren.

She was 63.

Ocean Springs Republican a ‘public servant’

Gov. Tate Reeves, in a post on social media, called Luckey a good friend and “excellent representative of Mississippi.” Attorney General Lynn Fitch called her a “dedicated public servant.”

Most every Republican across the state knew her name.

“She was a leader,” said state Sen. Brice Wiggins of Pascagoula. “She did it in a way that was graceful, and represented the best of Mississippi.”

Luckey graduated from the University of Mississippi and started her career in special education. She returned to the Coast with her husband when he graduated law school and taught in Oceans Springs public schools. She earned a master’s from the University of Southern Mississippi. Former Gov. Phil Bryant appointed Luckey to the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees, which oversees public universities, in 2018.

Libbie Sonnier, now the chief executive officer of the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children, met Luckey through her parents and nannied her two children when she was young. She also helped manage Luckey’s calendar, which she said taught her attention to detail she still uses in her career.

Luckey always kept in touch.

“It’s a tremendous loss,” Sonnier said. “You just thought Jeanne Luckey would live forever. She just had such a force of will.”

Her impact was immense. At one White House dinner, Luckey sat next to the national highway traffic safety board chairman. The chairman was so moved by her story of success after a tragic wreck that he rewrote former President George W. Bush’s regulations to require safer roof crush standards, Alwyn Luckey said.

She fought for conservative goals with compassion.

“She wasn’t the kind of person to get mad at you if you disagreed with her politically,” Alwyn Luckey said. “She tried to get you over to her side, and if that wasn’t possible you’d part as friends.”

But she often just won people over.

At the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees, she was working to get Mississippi graduates to stay in state after college. She gave away her handicap accessible van several times to people she met who she thought needed it more.

“She was incredibly strong,” Alwyn Luckey said, and “absolutely fearless in trying to do the right thing.”