Marilyn Jeanette Lucht

Marilyn Jeanette (Martin) Lucht, age 84, of Overland Park, Kansas, died peacefully on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, in Lenexa, Kansas. She was born in Harper, Kansas, on August 24, 1941, to Pauline Mae (Ballinger) and Howard Randall Martin.

Marilyn moved frequently in childhood while her father served in the U.S. Army. The family eventually returned to Kansas, where she graduated from Shawnee Mission High School. There, she received early accolades and scholarships that fostered her lifelong love of words and music. Marilyn went on to attend Baker University before transferring to Wichita State University, where she earned both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in music education.

On July 30, 1964, Marilyn married Richard Wilson Lucht in Fairway, Kansas. After they moved to Bloomington, Indiana, her work shifted from public school music teaching to editorial work at Indiana University. In 1967, Richard’s work brought the Luchts to Greenville, North Carolina, where their two daughters were born and raised. While in Greenville, Marilyn formed lifelong friendships, sang as a member of community ensembles, and served as a faculty administrator at East Carolina University for more than 30 years. As Assistant to the Dean for Communications at the School of Music, she was recognized for her administrative excellence and personal warmth. She expanded event media coverage, produced radio broadcasts featuring concerts and faculty interviews, planned Friends of the School of Music and Alumni Society events, and developed the Tones alumni newsletter serving as its editor for more than 20 years.

After retiring, and following the end of her marriage, she lived in Maine for six years, enjoying coastal life in Portland and forming lasting connections as a founding member and editor for the Pondtown Poets in Winthrop. In 2006, she returned home to Kansas to be with family, continuing to bring joy and warmth to the lives of all who knew her.

The joy and nurturing of children was a profound part of Marilyn’s being. Her own children brought an immense amount of tenderness, love and light throughout her life. She extended that light far beyond her own family through her support and personal correspondence with children around the world through ChildFund International and through her unique gift for fostering wonder, curiosity, and joy in her young piano students. Marilyn’s unwavering kind and gentle spirit with children is part of the world’s continuum.

Marilyn’s resilient, adventurous, and searching spirit led her to many gatherings, retreats, and travels abroad, including the study of Buddhism and Qi Gong in China. Of her own life, she wrote, “So many things I have known and held in my heart as nourishment. All the dates and external references of goals, degrees, awards fall so short to the music of my life.” The love, acceptance, listening ear, and deep, radiant smile she shared with so many are a joyful song that will continue to be heard on this earth and beyond.

Marilyn was preceded in death by her father, Howard Randall Martin (1980); her mother, Pauline Mae (Ballinger) Martin (2001); and her sister, Kathryn Ann (Martin) Thomason (2006).

She is survived by daughters Jennifer Lucht of Salem, Massachusetts, and Shelley Lucht of Lenexa, Kansas; cousins Lynne (Preston) Shaffer of Portland, Oregon, Suzanne Ballinger of West Palm Beach, Florida, David Ballinger of Norman, Oklahoma, Ann Lee (Cochran) McElroy of Konawa, Oklahoma, Miriam (Martin) Doell of Overland Park, Kansas, Stephen Martin of Crossville, Tennessee, Lois (Martin) and husband Phil Jones of Crossville, Tennessee; nephew Scott Metsker, his wife Victoria, and their children, Nicholas and Jillian, of Henderson, Nevada; nieces Beth Lucht of Brooklyn, Wisconsin, and Mollie (Lucht) Melbourne of Fairfield, Connecticut, and their families; and brother-in-law Steve Thomason and his wife, Tanya, of Shawnee, Kansas, in addition to other loving family members and beloved friends.

In lieu of flowers, donations in celebration of Marilyn’s life may be made to ChildFund International, Turning Point at University of Kansas Health System, or Parkinson’s Foundation Heartland Chapter.

“I sing because I’m happy — I sing because I’m free.”

Service details will be announced at a future date.