Les Luckett – Mr. Lester H. Luckett of 1831 Randolph St. in St. Charles passed away yesterday at the St. Charles Nursing Home at the age o 74. Born April 12, 1898 in St. Charles County to Mr. George and Mrs. Phyllis Luckett, he was retired from Lindenwood College where he worked from 1958 to 1969. He was a member of St. Paul United Methodist Church. Mr. Luckett is survived by a daughter, Mrs. Lawrence (Nellie) France and a sister, Mrs. Marie Williams,
both of St. Charles. He is survived by three grandchildren, Mrs. Carol Brown of St. Louis County, Ralph R. Cooper of Los Angeles, Calif and Albert L Cooper of Vietnam. Mr. Luckett is also survived by seven great grandchildren, nieces, nephews and other relatives. Mr. Luckett was preceeded in death by his first wife, Nellie Rafferty Luckett who he married the February 21, 1914, and she passed in 1933 and his second wife Margaret Hughes Luckett in 1953. [Both are buried at Sage Chapel Cemetery in O’Fallon] . He was also preceded in death by six children in infancy, three brothers, Albert L, George F. and Joseph M. and a sister Mary M.. Funeral services are pending and will be arranged later by the Arthur C. Baue Funeral Home. Memorial contributions may be made to the St. Paul United Methodist Church.
On August 20th, in 1881, Mahala (Keithly) and her husband Jasper Costlio had transferred to the Trustees of an African Methodist Episcopal Church for the use by the Conference, one acre of land, which became known as Sage Chapel Cemetery. This was done so that the former slaves of Samuel Keithly could continue to be buried in this cemetery. That same deed conveyed a one-half acre parcel on Sonderen Street to be used for a church known as Sage’s Chapel. The members of Cravens Methodist, and Wishwell Baptist, also located on Sonderen Street, also used this cemetery to bury their families. None of these churches or their records exist anymore. Sage Chapel Cemetery is a former African American community cemetery that is maintained by the City of O’Fallon, Missouri, located at 8500 Veterans Memorial Parkway. It has 117 documented burials of which only 37 have headstones, of these we know that 17 were born enslaved. (2018) May they rest in peace “As long as a name can be spoken, that person shall not be forgotten.”
Sage Chapel Cemetery 