By Blair Baumgartner
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Luke Becknell has always been active in the Warsaw community.

Becknell was born and raised in Bourbon. After graduating from Indiana University Bloomington, he moved to Warsaw in 1976 and started Today’s Headlines, a hair salon in Warsaw. Becknell still owns the salon and runs it with his wife, Michelle.

Luke Becknell

Becknell has been active in the Warsaw First United Methodist Church since coming to Warsaw in 1976. He is still involved with the music program and now sings with the music team at The Connection Campus.

The church hosts a community kitchen from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Wednesday. The church’s community closet is also open 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. each Wednesday except the first Wednesday, and provides families with different goods and items such as cleaning supplies, health and beauty products, paper goods and other household items. Becknell regularly volunteers with the kitchen and community closet. The two programs go hand-in-hand.

There are a number of other churches and community groups who contribute each month to make the meals and community closet possible as a service to the community.

Becknell is a member of The Warsaw Breakfast Optimist Club, which meets on Wednesdays and raises money for kids and different youth organizations within the county. The club just finished a fall display project that raised more than $12,000 for the county’s youth. The fall golf outing raised more than $10,000 for local youth organizations.

Becknell still participates in the Optimist Club’s triathlon each July. “I not only help put that on, but I participate in it, too. That has kind of been my hobby over the years, running and cycling,” said Becknell.

Becknell and his family sponsored bicycle events for many years to raise money for cystic fibrosis. His brother suffered from cystic fibrosis. The Becknell family started a race called “Race Coast-to-Coast Indiana” which led cyclists on a two-day journey from the shores of Lake Michigan to the Ohio River.

They also started a race called “Bourbon and Back” where cyclists would ride from Warsaw to Bourbon and back to raise money and awareness for cystic fibrosis.

“We really enjoy living in Kosciusko County. It’s really a great place to live,” he said.

He and Michelle love to travel and hike. They really enjoy the natural beauty of the great outdoors and recently traveled to Utah to visit friends and hike in Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. “My wife convinced me to ride a mule down into the canyon,” Becknell said, laughing.

The couple has also done a lot of hiking in Colorado. Becknell has a goal of hiking a “14’er”, referring to a 14,000-foot mountain peak in Colorado during the summer of 2023 before his 70th birthday. He and Michelle are looking for mountains to climb in the Keystone area of Colorado.

One of Becknell’s longstanding traditions is to attend the Indianapolis 500 each year with his Indiana University Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity brothers. He and his fraternity brothers have attended every Indianapolis 500 race since 1973. “I’ve seen a lot of cars go fast and turn left,” he said.

Becknell and his family had a lake cottage on Big Barbee Lake for many years. He and Michelle built a new home in its place eight years ago.

He has two sons who are “married to great wives” and five grandsons.