‘Storage Wars’ Auctioneer John Luke Posts Touching Father’s Day Photo at the Cemetery

Storage Wars star John Luke marked Father’s Day in a special way. The reality TV star shared a photo of his father’s gravestone, along with a short but heartfelt message.

Luke wrote that he was missing his father, who died in November 2014 according to his headstone, this Father’s Day. John Luke Sr. was a Lt. Col. in the United States Air Force, and served in both the Korean War and in Vietnam. He was awarded a purple heart for his service.

The Storage Wars star tweeted that his dad was “missed” by all who knew him. He did not say much else, but the sentiment resonated with fans, who sent condolences and wished Luke a happy Father’s Day.

“I’m sure u have great memories!” one fan commented.

“I know how you feel buddy,” another tweeted.

In May, Luke shared photos from his father’s funeral several years prior. He thanked “all our servicemen & women past & present.”

Luke appeared on Storage Wars: New York on A&E from 2013 to 2014. During the show, he happened upon many treasures — and a lot of junk — but his most valuable find came when the cameras weren’t rolling.

In an interview with SpareFoot Blog, Luke recalled auctioning off a storage unit that contained valuable works of art from a Brazilian artist. The unit was “valued at $160,000,” he said. The person who bought it paid just $5,600 for it, however.

“It contained artwork from a famous Brazilian artist and there were photographs in there, but the one thing that wasn’t there that broke [Joe Pauletich’s] heart was a frame that said Andy Warhol on it. What happened is it was from a gallery and I guess whoever was in the gallery took the Andy Warhol (painting) because that could be worth hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars,” he said.

Luke was born and raised in Harlem, according to the blog. He recalled it as “a pretty tough area,” but had fond memories of living there with his mother and father. He spent his free time playing baseball, football, soccer, hockey and other sports, though the latter was his favorite.

He got his start as a working man with a book publisher. Before long, most of the company was laid off but Luke and one other employee remained. He was promoted to assistant supervisor and started making copies of book manuscripts on Photostat machines.

“Within a year, I was making more money than an editor in the publishing company,” he said.

A few years later, Luke was approached by a headhunter who asked if he’d be interested in a job with HBO. He was hired as the supervisor of distribution services, but eventually grew tired of the job. He was invited to work at a law firm. That same law firm was part of the story told in The Wolf of Wall Street, according to SpareFoot Blog.

Luke worked as the auctioneer selling assets of Stratton Oakmont.

“I was on location when they were listening to the compliance tapes,” he recalled. “That’s why they got shut down because… the young guys and girls that were brokers were promising, ‘Yeah, buy this stock and you’ll make 1000 percent profit.’ But anyway, they went bankrupt and we ended up selling the company.”

From there, he got into storage auctions, and found his way onto Storage Wars.