Susan Luckie Reilly, a longtime Twentynine Palms resident, died Thursday, June 22, on her birthday, at 101 years old. Reilly was the daughter of Dr. James B. Luckie, a Pasadena physician who recommended the healthy, dry, desert climate of Twentynine Palms to WWI veterans suffering from the effects of mustard gas. Reilly developed a lifelong love and passion for the desert environment and has been a driving force for preservation and protection of the Southern California desert. She worked at Joshua Tree National Monument as a seasonal ranger-naturalist in 1965 and maintained a close relationship with the park over the last 50 years. Reilly was a founding member of the Morongo Basin Conservation Association, which successfully fought off an initiative by the utility company to run a massive power transmission corridor straight through the heart of the Morongo Basin. Reilly received the Minerva Hoyt Award in 2004. She also received a Woman of Distinction Award given by Congressman Paul Cook in 2013. Park superintendent David Smith said, “Susan was one of the very first women to become a ranger at Joshua Tree National Monument. She has inspired a generation of young women to become stewards of our public lands. Her final legacy will be the Reilly Research Center which will allow the park to make decisions based on science as we face global climate changes and other threats to the park. She will be missed.”
