‘God's going to give her that ribbon': 97-year-old wins state fair prize weeks after death
So, it's no surprise to her family that she won one in death, too.
Beginning in the early 2000s, and until about five years ago when her fingers couldn't manage the delicate work any longer, Luckett won more than 15 ribbons for her crocheting. This year, she rediscovered an antique from the 1880s, which gave her the chance to enter again.
But in the time that passed between Luckett putting her name on a Kentucky State Fair entry seven weeks ago and the judging in August, the 97-year-old woman had a stroke and unexpectedly died.
A few months before, as she was cleaning out some of the storage in her home, she came across an antique fluting iron she had entered in the antiques division for the 2004 and 2005 Kentucky State Fairs. Back then, she typed up and laminated a little about its history, her daughter Diane Peckinpaugh, told the Courier Journal. The iron, which was used to crimp, ruffle and press pleats into fabric, didn't win a ribbon.
Twenty years later, the judges had a change of heart.
Or perhaps, a little outside influence.
'Just the thought of her in the afterlife trying to manipulate the judges, I just laugh about it,' Peckinpaugh said.
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The Kentucky State Fair was 'like Christmas' for Luckett, explained Judy Meeks, another daughter. Like a child waking up on Christmas morning and rushing to the tree, her mother had to get to the Kentucky State Fair on the Thursday morning it opened. She'd dart from exhibit-to-exhibit, checking to see whether she'd placed in the competitions for tablecloths, pillowcases, table runners, doilies or sweaters.
Throughout her life, she'd always attended the fair with her family, but she never entered anything in the textile competition until she was in her 80s. Her passion for competing started after a silly moment when Meeks gave her mother a genuine compliment on her crocheting, but Luckett didn't believe her.
'Oh, you're just sucking up to me,' Luckett told her.
So, Meeks challenged her mother to enter the Kentucky State Fair, and in 2003, she won honorable mention for her tablecloth. Then in 2004 she nabbed a blue ribbon.
'It all boiled down to her thinking I was sucking up to her, and that was how the monster got created,' Meeks said, laughing at the memory.
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Luckett was a force of creativity and craftsmanship. Over the years, the mother of seven and grandmother and great grandmother to many more crocheted countless gifts and, occasionally, even fair entries for the people she loved. Once she made a scarf for her son's sister-in-law, who had cancer, that had a pink ribbon in each square. Another time, she made a blanket depicting the Statue of Liberty. Meeks' even has handmade curtains hanging in her basement that won Luckett a second-place ribbon.
'She loved with her whole heart, and she put her whole heart into what she did,' Meeks said. 'And I really think that's why she won.'
Despite her age and the marginal disapproval of her children, Luckett lived independently in her home until she died. She'd lost her husband of 68 years in 2022, but still managed to move around her home and even run errands with the help of a walker and her children. Lately, she'd started cleaning out closets, bedrooms and storage spaces with the hope of leaving less for her children to sort through incase something happened to her.
That's how she came across the fluting iron again. When Meeks asked if they should enter it, Luckett agreed but with one condition.
'Just put my name on it,' Luckett told her daughter, hoping for one more ribbon. She hadn't entered the Kentucky State Fair in about five years. Her fingers had lost their nimbleness, but her competitive spirit still thrived until she passed on Aug. 7.
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'Her stroke was totally unexpected, she had been doing really well,' Meeks said.
Two days after her death, Meeks took the fluting iron entry her mother had put together and dropped in off at the fairgrounds. Before her mom died, Meeks thought about tweaking or updating the description, but as the family dove into final arrangements, she decided to submit it as is. At very least, entering the fair would get her discounted fair admission.
A few days later at the wake, Meeks recounted this story to her husband's cousin, who also enjoys competing in the Kentucky State Fair.
'God's going to give her that ribbon, Judy,' the cousin told her.
They buried Luckett in St. Michael's Cemtery on Aug. 12, and the Kentucky State Fair opened on Aug. 14.
On a whim, her daughter-in-law headed out to the fair that first day, just as Luckett used to do. She wandered over to the antiques, and there was the fluting iron boasting a bright blue ribbon.
'I was just so floored,' Meeks said, still stunned. 'I was enamored. I was just beside myself. I was just in it for the cheap tickets in my mind.'
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In the days that have followed, many of Luckett's children and grandchildren have gone out to see it for themselves. They were always her cheerleaders throughout her life so, of course, they'd be there for her final blue ribbon, too.
In a way, though, it's a win for all of them. For Peckinpaugh, it almost feels like a message.
'We're dealing with a loss and it's just comforting, because you know, we really don't know what happens after we die,' Peckinpaugh said. 'I think that was her way of saying hey, 'I'm OK, I'm good.''
Reach Courier Journal features columnist Maggie Menderski at mmenderski@courier-journal.com.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: 97-year-old wins Kentucky State Fair blue ribbon weeks after her death
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