Peg Lucas has always shunned the spotlight. So when her hometown named the longtime volunteer as Bel Air Citizen of the Year in 2023, she tried to talk them out of it.
“I mentioned six other people who’d be good candidates,” said Lucas, 80. “I never wanted to be a big shot. I like knowing I did a good job, but the world doesn’t need to know.”
For four decades, she has worked behind the scenes to help preserve Bel Air’s past and to shape its future. A charter member of the town’s Historic Preservation Commission, Lucas is part of Bel Air’s Cultural Arts Commission, its Appearance and Beautification Committee and the Downtown Alliance Design Committee.
“I’m just someone who cares about the town,” she said.
“I want Bel Air to have a soul.”
Here are three things you may not know about Lucas:
The Chesapeake Bay is her oyster.
“For years, my husband and I had a 34-foot sailboat; we met at a sailing club. Being out on the Bay is exhilarating — you’re not fixed on your destination as much as you’re enjoying the experience of just being on the boat. I’ll be a great-grandmother in March, but I still have a small kayak, which I can fit in the back of my car, if I want to go [across the bay] to Rock Hall.”
The garden is her Eden.
“I grow many [ornamental] plants that I share with garden club members. They may have botanical names but, for me, the plants are constant reminders of those who gave them to me. The Black-eyed Susans are from Marta; the elephant ears, from Valerie. They are physical manifestations of my relationships with others.”
Cooking puts her in the limelight.
“I cook so much that I don’t get taken out to dinner very often. I do a [New England] clam chowder to kill for, and my Eastern Shore corn pudding has to go to picnics. Everything is made from scratch. There’s a sense of accomplishment when a meal turns out great, and frustration when it doesn’t. It’s a lot like volunteering.”
