Lucille Warnock
1933 – 2024
Lou was born in 1933, the surprise gift to her mother Clarine, father Fred, 16-year-old brother Fred Junior, and 12-year-old sister Janet. She was beautiful, smart and delightful, a ray of sunshine at a very dark time in America, which was in the depths of the Depression. When she was five, she contracted rheumatic fever, giving her ample time to explore the imaginative stories and books which informed her life. My Storybook series was an important feature in her creative imagination, as well as her collection of Storybook Dolls. When she returned to school, her abilities were soon recognized, and she was skipped a grade. At 13, she was sent to a college preparatory boarding school for girls in Berkeley California, a very formative and important time for her.
Lou attended UCLA, creating her own major of politics with an emphasis in public relations. She joined Alpha Kai Omega sorority, where she made many lifelong friends. One of her sorority sisters Barbara asked Lou to meet her fiancé Stewart, as she was to be in the upcoming wedding. His brother Hugh came along, and it was that fateful day that Hugh & Lou fell in love on the beach in Malibu California, beginning their 69-year marriage. Her first job was in sales with Mary Louise Schmidt of The Building Center, a modern architect service in West Los Angeles, where she was able to enjoy her passion for design and architecture. The young couple moved to Seal Beach CA where their three daughters Julie, Stacy, and Lexi were born. She joined the Junior League of Long Beach, making long-term and important friendships while doing great philanthropy work. In 1967 she fulfilled a dream, when she and Hugh designed and built a contemporary home on Davenport Island in Huntington Harbor, CA, enjoying the tight knit community and active outdoor lifestyle for 50 years.
Having an astute and curious mind, Lou decided to get her real estate license once the girls were all in grade school, and it soon became not only a source of joy for her, but a highly successful career that spanned 35 years. It brought together her love of people, a desire to help them find just the right home and allowed her to enjoy her interest in architecture and design. Some of her favorite pastimes were entertaining, travel, and reading the LA Times from cover to cover.
Finally retiring at 75, Lou remained active socially, practicing yoga, writing for the Harbor Light magazine, traveling, and, visiting her five grandchildren Mico, Remi, Will, Serafina and Annabelle in Seattle and Santa Barbara. In 2018 she and Hugh moved to Santa Barbara and thrived in the community at Maravilla, where she participated in tai chi, art classes, and especially enjoying the music. As she developed some cognitive decline from mini strokes, her beloved Hugh was always by her side. Throughout their lives they were love birds, holding hands, and exchanging sweet I love you’s. She is survived by Hugh who misses his “Smeed” terribly, and her loving family and friends.
Her spiritual practice, that included meditation, visualization, and affirmation, sustained her to the very end, and she died peacefully with a beautiful smile on her face. She was an elegant and graceful woman to the very end.