Luke Leonard Luscomb Gurney of Oak Bluffs, a much-loved husband, father, son, and friend, followed his passion for fishing and love of the ocean to Martha’s Vineyard. He did not regret the choice he made to make his living from the sea, which claimed him on Monday, June 20, in a tragic commercial fishing accident off Great Point, Nantucket. He was 48.
Luke had migrated to the Vineyard from New Bedford, a city with the fishing business woven into its fabric, but this week his death touched a deep chord in the Island community, where he had lived and raised a family for the past 22 years. Those who had worked with Luke — either at sea or in the building trades before he began fishing — and his wide circle of friends described a generous man with an infectious smile and an upbeat personality, never slow to lend a hand.
One day after his death, a woman who regularly walked her dog along the dock where Luke often moored his fishing boat recalled that he always said hello, and knew her dog’s name.
“He knew the name of every dog on the dock,” she said. “He was a good man.”
The same testimony has been repeated often since Monday’s terrible news broke as people described his small acts of kindness and generosity — a cord of wood delivered to a neighbor because he heard it was needed; an offer to teach a father, whose son was taking up hockey, how to skate.
Luke was born on March 12, 1968, in West Brookfield to John and Linda Gurney, and grew up fishing in the small ponds near his house. In 1994, he graduated from the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine, with a degree in marine science. He moved to Martha’s Vineyard, where his parents had a small Oak Bluffs vacation home, to work with Division of Marine Fisheries sport fisheries biologist Greg Skomal. When funding for his state position ran out, he found the Vineyard was an easy fit for his carpentry skills and enthusiasm for fishing. In 2001, he married Robyn Wildrick, a schoolteacher and the love of his life.
Robyn joined the Martha’s Vineyard school system. Luke worked in the building trades, and then, in 2009, began fishing commercially, working on boats owned by others, for whelk (conch), sea bass, and scup in the waters around the Vineyard and Nantucket.
He also played and coached hockey, and served on the board of the Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust, an organization dedicated to supporting the industry.
In 2012, he bought a 42-foot Nova Scotia–built lobster boat that he named No Regrets, and continued fishing, now as captain.
“Luke was doing what he loved, and he loved what he did,” Robyn said. “He was living his life the way he always wanted to — that’s why his boat was named No Regrets, because you don’t want to live your life saying, I wish I would’ve, I wish I could’ve, and that’s what he was doing.”
Luke is survived by his wife Robyn, his sons Jacob and Sam; his parents John and Linda Gurney of Mattapoisett; his sister Mary Gurney-Sylvia and her husband David Sylvia and their children, Grace, Luke, Meredith, and Mairwen; and his brother Joshua Gurney and his children Sophie and Elliot.
A wake was held on Saturday, June 25, at Rock Funeral Home on Ashley Boulevard in New Bedford.
A celebration of his life is scheduled for Saturday, July 2, at 2 pm at the P.A. Club on Vineyard Avenue in Oak Bluffs.
Donations in his memory may be made to “Support Luke Gurney’s family in the days to come,” a YouCaring crowdfunding site.
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