Neva Janice Luckey

Neva Janice Huneycutt Luckey, age 80, was born on September 10, 1945, in Charleston, South Carolina, during the time her father was serving as a merchant marine during and after World War II. She was the youngest child of Lenora Watson Huneycutt and Paul James Huneycutt. Soon after Neva’s birth, the family returned to the hills of North Carolina.

After several months of illness, Neva passed away peacefully on October 3, 2025, at Sarasota Memorial Hospital.

In 1955, Neva’s parents moved the family to Naples, Florida, where she met her future husband, Larry Luckey, in her fourth-grade class. She was seated beside him so he could help her “catch up” in school—a partnership that grew into a lifetime of love and companionship.

Neva devoted 32 years of service to the Hendry County School Board as a payroll specialist. Her greatest joys in life were serving the Lord and spending time with her family. To many, she was a loyal friend, but to those closest to her, she was affectionately known as Aunt Neva, Honey, Mama, and Granny.

She chose the name “Granny” for herself in her forties—long before she looked the part—and wore it proudly for the rest of her life. As her family grew to include grandchildren, their spouses, and four beloved great-granddaughters, she fully embraced her role as the matriarch of the Luckey family. Canning homemade guava jam, “putting up” tomatoes, baking cakes, and churning fresh ice cream were just a few of the ways she poured love into her family.

Among her favorite pastimes were listening to her grandchildren sing and play music, traveling—especially with her husband Larry and her sister Mona—and shelling, a passion born from growing up just one mile from Vanderbilt Beach.

Neva also had a spirited sense of adventure that often surprised her grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. When her husband would protest, “Honey, you can’t do that,” she’d smile and reply, “Watch me.” She climbed bluffs in the Ozarks, went whitewater rafting in Colorado and North Carolina, flew in a helicopter across the Grand Canyon, and even explored into the canyon itself. After once being thrown from a raft and rescued downstream, she laughed and said, “Let’s do that again!”

Neva is survived by her husband of nearly 60 years, Larry Luckey, Sr.; her son, Larry Russell Luckey, II, and his wife Stella; three grandchildren—Olivia Billings and her husband Bobby, Paul Luckey and his wife Abigail, and Elijah Luckey and his wife Shelbie; and four cherished great-granddaughters—Evie (6) and Zoey (4), daughters of Olivia and Bobby, and Parker (2) and Emilia (1), daughters of Elijah and Shelbie.

She is also survived by two siblings: her eldest sister Remona Huneycutt Blackwelder (89) of China Grove, North Carolina, who lovingly cared for Neva during her early childhood, and her brother Eugene Huneycutt of Waddell, Arizona. Additionally, she leaves behind 39 of her 45 nieces and nephews, all of whom she dearly loved.

Neva was preceded in death by her parents; three brothers—Pete, Buck, and Andy; one sister, Leona; and five nephews and one niece.