William Lucas “Luke” Douphrate III came to Texas A&M for reasons which mirrored his values — family, tradition and a desire to gain the skills which would help him help others, especially those in need.
Luke loved hunting, Aggie football and showing compassion, acceptance and kindness to all of those around him. He was an urban land planning major in the Department of Architecture, and he loved being a student at A&M — which was a family tradition.
“First of all let me let just say that Luke was a fourth generation Aggie,” William ‘Dub’ Douphrate II, Luke’s father, said. “He loved watching Aggie football games, like we all do. He cherished it so much, because he was a fourth generation [Aggie]. Our family has always bled maroon.”
Not only did Luke enjoy being a student at A&M, he loved to be outside, taking in the world around him.
“Luke loved the outdoors. We loved to go hunting, deer hunting, fly fishing,” Dub said. “We went to Colorado to go fly fishing every year.”
Despite all of the hobbies he personally enjoyed, what Luke loved most was giving back and helping those he could.
“He was most interested in helping people and he thought [urban planning] would be a good degree that he could get involved in,” Dub said. “He talked about possibly working in areas there’s been a disaster, like flood victims or hurricane victims to help in the emergency relief.”
Along with a love for Texas A&M and wilderness, Luke had a love of learning. This love of study and learning guided his faith Kaitlyn Douphrate, Luke’s sister and Class of 2012, said.
“He loved knowledge. He was always reading. He just had so much knowledge, especially in the Bible. He was essentially a walking Bible. He knew scripture in and out.”
The knowledge Luke possessed allowed him to provide counsel to members of his family, especially his sister, Kaitlyn said.
“Luke was always the one I would go to for advice,” Kaitlyn said. “I would just spend quality time with him whenever we had it. I mean we could just be doing nothing and I just loved being around him.”
This desire to be like Jesus was something that Luke legitimately lived out, Andrew “Drew” Douphrate, Luke’s younger brother and Class of 2016, said.
“Whenever he and I went deer hunting, I was passed out and he stayed awake to see the a big buck and woke me up [so I could shoot it] and that was a pretty cool thing,” Drew said.
The life he led he hoped to share with others, showing all people what he believed to be the true ideologies of Christianity.
“He was so kind and so loving to everyone,” Kaitlyn said. “He always had this vision to build a church that really embodied the real Christ.”
These thoughts and actions Luke lived out were something that he was able to show and teach to his entire family, Drew said.
“First off I would say that he taught me to love all people no matter what their circumstances. To be patient, and [try to achieve happiness],” Drew said.
Luke truly motivated those around him to be the kind of person that strived to be better in all areas, Kaitlyn said.
“To be open minded about things, I mean he would always question things,” Kaitlyn said. “He would tell me to question whatever my opinion was. To be better. That was the thing in one of the letters he wrote is to be love all people. He was so insightful. ”