'Just look at the picture' of Lucas. Mourners see bright sides of 5-year-old's life

The Rev. Jeff Gannon peered out over the 250 people in the auditorium Saturday. Some were already dabbing tears. And he asked them to fix their eyes on the boy’s grinning face on a big screen in front of them.

They were looking at the only school picture that will ever be taken of 5-year-old Lucas Hernandez, a prekindergarten student known for his extra-long eyelashes.

Lucas is the boy who became "Wichita’s son" after he was reported missing from his South Edgemoor home in February. The disappearance lasted more than three months. Police and volunteers searched field after field for him, and strangers worried about him. His face covered a giant missing-child poster on a billboard downtown. Then, in late May, his body was recovered under a Harvey County bridge after his caregiver — his father’s live-in girlfriend, Emily Glass — led a private investigator there. An autopsy couldn’t determine how the boy died, and Glass killed herself two weeks after Lucas' body was found.

Saturday was a day to honor Lucas’ life, an occasion for everyone to try to heal from the trauma.

The service, interwoven with soothing music and smile-provoking videos of Lucas, was held at Wichita State University’s Hughes Metropolitan Complex.

When Gannon asked the relatives, friends and strangers to look up at Lucas’ face, he told them that they were seeing the “most ordinary and most extraordinary little boy all at the same time.”

Gannon described Lucas in terms that people could relate to. Lucas liked root beer and Dr Pepper, cheeseburgers with pickles and the toy aisle at Dollar Tree.

“Just look at the picture,” Gannon kept directing the audience.

Part of what made Lucas extraordinary: He loved to clean the house and run the vacuum cleaner, was born with health problems “but always refused to give up,” had an “angelic little voice,” "angelic eyelashes" and unusual patience and compassion for a child.

His teachers at Beech Elementary shared with the clergy their uplifting experiences with Lucas in preparation for Saturday’s service.

At school, Lucas welcomed homework. He would beg his teacher to read his favorite story, “Pete the Cat.”

He was proud of his Batman shoes and Batman pack.

He was persistent, even with his coloring work.

Someone in the school community came up with the idea of using a stuffed bear with a green scarf to help Lucas’ classmates deal with his disappearance. They called it Lucas the Lion. Anyone could hug Lucas the Lion if they wanted to.

Lucas had a best friend, a classmate who sat next to him. The friend always made sure that Lucas the Lion’s scarf was just right. “She was doing it for Lucas,” Gannon said.

Another speaker, Tim Miller, director of Texas EquuSearch — a non-profit, all-volunteer group devoted to searching for missing people — told the mourners that "this healing process is going to be long and painful.”

Some people might feel guilt over what-ifs or wonder if there were warning signs with Lucas, he said.

The question now, Miller said, is what can society do to prevent more missing-children cases?

“What are we going to do now?" he repeated. "Let’s not allow his death to be in vain.”

Sheila Medlam, one of the key organizers of Saturday’s service and a leader of one of the search teams who tried to find Lucas, read a statement from District Attorney Marc Bennett saying that Lucas’ disappearance and death touched an entire community. “Lucas will never be forgotten,” Bennett's statement said.

Much of the service dealt with hope, but Father Terry Hedrick also acknowledged the pain.

Hedrick said that Lucas’ mother once said: "Don’t tell me he is in a better place. He should be in the arms of his mother.”

“And that’s true. He should be,” Hedrick said. “But I know today he is in the arms of Jesus. … Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me.’”

The audience saw video of Lucas over the five years of his life. It showed him dressed in a pirate’s costume, in front of a Christmas tree, with Santa, kissing his mom, sitting on his dad’s lap, getting a hug from his older sister, staring at a birthday cake and batting a ball.

The stage had been meticulously lined with hundreds of items that had been placed by a constant pilgrimage of mourners at the remote site where his body had been found.

For Saturday's service, the items from the roadside memorial had been collected and carefully cleaned and dusted so they could be arrayed on the stage.

There were toy cars and toy trucks and stuffed bears, monkeys, elephants, tigers, rabbits, dogs and alligators. There were cartoon and action figures: Mickey Mouse, Spider-Man and, of course, Batman.

Before the service, one woman slowly walked past the toys. She wiped tears as a man softly patted her back.

Another woman, in cowboy boots, approached the rows of stuffed animals, nestled so closely together.

She knelt down on one knee in front of the extraordinary display and rested her chin on her hand.

She fixed her eyes on it — a breathtaking outpouring of love for one boy.

It was as if she was recording it for her memory.

This story was originally published June 30, 2018 at 5:34 PM with the headline "'Just look at the picture' of Lucas. Mourners see bright sides of 5-year-old's life."