Rob Lucas, who died two years ago, loved the outdoors. His friends will hold the second annual Rob’s Sugar River Ramble, a bike ride and river paddle, in his memory on June 5.
Five days before his sudden passing, Rob Lucas was paddling with friends on the Sugar River.
It wasn’t a long trip with any particular destination, just a relaxing early June outing on a pleasant shaded section of water just west of Verona.
“Rob used to say there was absolutely nothing better than messin’ around in boats,” recalls his widow, Angie.
Lucas loved the outdoors, whether exploring backwater streams or racing down the Birkebeiner cross country ski trail. It was a passion he shared with his wife and passed along to his three children.
Those who knew the outgoing Madison West High school psychologist are still trying to understand why he ended his life two years ago at age 59. No one can know what private demons he might have battled or whether an adverse reaction to a common antidepressant drug — prescribed just a week before his death — played a role.
“Rob had this unique ability to lift the spirits of others,” says Rick Rosen, a social worker and colleague at West. “He touched students who otherwise would find adults easy to ignore.”
Survivors are celebrating his life with a noncompetitive outdoor event open to all ages. The second annual “Rob’s Sugar River Ramble,” set for Sunday, June 5, features a bike ride on country roads and a paddle on the Sugar River, followed by a party at Grundahl Park in Mount Horeb.
Proceeds benefit the Upper Sugar River Watershed Association, a small nonprofit dedicated to improving water quality in the river that originates in Dane County and flows 90 miles southwest to the Pecatonica before reaching the Rock and eventually the Mississippi.
“We want people to remember Rob the way he was, on a river or on his bike, laughing, telling jokes,” says Angie, who works as director of the Verona Natatorium.
To the Lucas family, “Rob’s Ramble” has served as something of a healing mechanism — especially for the couple’s 17-year-old twins.
“This has given them something to plan, a way to think about their dad without crying,” says Angie.
The idea for an event to benefit the Upper Sugar River Watershed Association had been bouncing around for several years before Rob’s untimely death gave it a purpose.
Executive director Wade Moder says the association was looking for a way to both raise money for the organization and introduce more paddlers to the river, which for decades has suffered from contaminated runoff from adjacent dairy farms.
“Having this in honor of Rob was just a natural,” says Moder. “We didn’t have to think twice.”
Work on the long-neglected Sugar River goes back 25 years, when volunteers from Capitol Water Trails, Dane County Parks and other groups first worked to remove trash, automobile tires and assorted junk that had been tossed in over the years. Downed trees and manmade snags had also slowed the flow rate to a point where the Upper Sugar River was choking to death.
The USRWA was launched as a private nonprofit in 2000. Working on a shoestring $60,000 annual budget, the group has been partnering with adjacent landowners on controlling manure, cover cropping along stream banks and keeping cattle out of the water. The group recently secured a grant from the state agriculture department to work with farmers under the new Producer Led Watershed Protection program.
“I’ve really come to understand that improving natural resources and habitat starts with the watershed,” says Moder, a graduate of UW-Green Bay in environmental policy and planning.
Rob Lucas also had a keen interest in water, evidenced by the number of canoes and kayaks he kept in the garage at the family’s rural Fitchburg home.
“When we first met we realized we owned seven boats between us,” laughs Angie.
Angie continues to struggle with her husband’s passing and has searched for some explanation. The autopsy showed that Rob was suffering from a severe infection in a surgically replaced hip, an ailment that was apparently not causing him any direct pain since the joint was artificial.
She also has dug deeply into the side effects of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft. While those widely prescribed medications are designed to decrease symptoms of depression, they occasionally have the opposite effect. Since 2007, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has required makers of all antidepressant medications to include warnings about increased risks of suicidal thinking during initial use.
None of that will return Rob to the people whose lives he touched so deeply. But organizers of “Rob’s Sugar River Ramble” are hoping for a big turnout in his honor. Last year’s event drew 160 participants, and there is a cap of 250 this time, with registration open through Wednesday, June 1, at www.usrwa.org/ramble.
“Rob loved that river,” says Bill Coady, an avid paddler and cross country skier from Madison. “I know he would be pleased we are supporting the Upper Sugar River Watershed Association in his name.”