The benefit and effort grew from an expression of love for a man and his family by some of his colleagues within a large company in Dallas, Texas Instruments, Inc. The good hearts of people through their volunteerism, donations and corporate support within the community has been overwhelming. Thanks to all who have been a part of the Joe Lucky Memorial Golf Tournament, Inc. benefit.

How We Got Here – History

September 2017 marks the 13th anniversary of the loss of one of Texas Instruments’ young engineers, Joe Lucky, who died suddenly on September 27, 2004, at the age of 38. Joe was one of this life’s good soldiers and left a wife (Jo Ellen) and two young daughters (Marisa and Rebecka). Jo Ellen was a stay at home mom and she and Joe dedicated their lives to making sure that the girls had the best family environment and education opportunities. You can imagine the financial difficulty that a young family suffers when the primary income provider is lost.

Some of Joe’s colleagues decided in remembrance of Joe and support of his family to organize a scramble golf tournament to be played annually. We have already seen what a positive impact this tournament has made on Joe’s two young girls as they are aware of the importance of their education and are both in the honors programs at their schools. Marisa is in her senior year at the University of Texas at Dallas this fall and Rebecka will be a freshman there this year.

In 2009 we established the Joe Lucky Memorial Scholarship Fund through the Dallas County Community College Scholarship Foundation. This scholarship fund was established to assist other students in the community who had the interest and ability in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) curriculums but lacked the financial capability to move forward in their education. Every year we allocate an amount of the proceeds to this special scholarship fund and since the beginning of the scholarship fund we have awarded over 50 scholarships

On August 7, 2012, we lost another one of our colleagues, Paul Larson, who at the young age of 50 years old, lost his battle with MDS. Paul was a good Christian and family man leaving a wife, Julie and daughter Alexandra who is 15 years old. We also help with Alexandra’s college fund through contributions from the Joe Lucky Memorial Golf Tournament’s proceeds to her 529 Education Fund.

The first family affected by this new policy was that of Gary Kelly who was a CAM Engineer at Eagle Circuits. Gary passed away suddenly at the young age of 48 leaving a widow, Debbie and two children Matthew and Caroline, aged 14 (twins). Matthew and Caroline are also beneficiaries of the tournament having proceeds from the tournament put into their 529 Education fund.