Gerald Luecke Obituary

Gerald Luecke (Jerry) was born on April 10, 1925, on a farm in Will Township, Illinois to Edwin Luecke and Alma Westenfeldt. His mother died of childbirth in 1931 and he was raised by an aunt and uncle, Lydia, and Gustave Hartman. Jerry graduated from Crete High School in May 1943 and entered the Navy August 1, 1943. He served until May 1946, attaining the rank of Aviation Electronic Technicians Mate Second Class.

Jerry graduated from the University of Iowa in 1950 with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, and in 1951 from Northwestern University with a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering. After five years with Victor Adding Machine Company in Chicago, he accepted a position in 1957 with Texas Instruments Incorporated in Dallas, Texas.

The transistor was invented by Bell Labs in 1948, and TI became a licensed participant and pursued the technology vigorously. Jack Kilby invented the IC, the integrated circuit, in 1958 and became the leader of a department charged with making use of the technology. TI contracted to design and manufacture ICs for the control circuits for the Minutemen missiles manufactured by Autonetics. As engineering manager of Jack’s IC department, Jerry supervised a team of engineers that completed the Autonetics circuits. He continued his IC design by heading up a team of engineers that designed the initial Series 54 IC logic family marketed so successfully by TI, making them the leader in IC manufacturing. In 1970, Jerry was transferred to the MOS department in Houston, TX where he stayed until 1973 when he was transferred back to the Learning Center in Dallas. This was a major change in his career – – – from a designer to a teacher. In the Learning Center he concentrated on helping TI engineers understand and apply the technology through videotapes and books. The subjects were so popular that the material was offered as product on the outside. He continued in the teacher roles throughout the remaining portion of his 32-year TI tenure. In addition, he was a University Program Manager, marketing engineer and a publisher.

In 1984, Jerry became the third partner of a small publishing company, Master Publishing, and was responsible for the technical content of each one of their books. He retired from TI in 1989 to devote full time to Master Publishing. The books concentrated on technical material for the technically interested consumer. The books were marketed through RadioShack and they explained electronic subjects very common to everyday life for a person interested in how things work. They explained how-to-do and how-to-use electronic items found around the home.

Jerry has been a lifelong member of the Lutheran church, and has held several offices from President and Vice President of the congregations, to Elder and Sunday school teacher. His family joined Messiah Lutheran in Richardson, TX, in the infancy stages, and he was President when he signed the loan agreement for the first property purchase on Belt Line Road in Richardson. He was also a founding member of Our Savior Lutheran in Rockwall, TX, was a key participant in acquiring the property that it now sits on, and has been instrumental in the growth of the church.

Gerald was an avid sports fan and closely followed all the Dallas teams in football, basketball and baseball. He was a member of the Electrical Engineering Honor Society, Eta Kappa Nu, and Tau Beta Pi, the honor society for all engineering.

Gerald leaves behind his loving wife Velma, three sons, Gerald, Douglas, and Stephen, a daughter, Margaret Mary Farrington, a step-daughter, Donna Unett, three stepsons, Monty, Gerald, and Don Hubbard, 11 Luecke grandchildren, and 8 great grandchildren, 6 Hubbard grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held 2:00pm, Sunday, February 2, 2020, at Our Savior Lutheran Church, 3003 Horizon Road, Rockwall, TX, 75032. Interment will follow in Rest Haven Memorial Park. A gathering of family and friends will be held Saturday evening at The Gathering at Rest Haven Funeral Home-Rockwall Location from 6:00 to 8:00pm. In lieu of flowers, Jerry has requested that donations be made to Our Savior Lutheran Church in Rockwall, Texas or the National Kidney Foundation.