John “Jack” Lutz was the ultimate fix-it man, with a knack for repairing and building just about anything.
As a teenager, he and his friends found an old Model T, rebuilt it and got the vehicle running. If anything broke at home or at church, he’d tackle the job, whether mechanical, electrical or carpentry work.
“He was a really good handyman,” said his son, William R. “Ron” Lutz of Cumming. “He worked on cars, built sidewalks and did brickwork. He made tables and chairs. It wasn’t anything that he could not do, and he did it well.”
Lutz, of Atlanta, died April 3, about seven weeks after the death of Edith Margie Lutz, his wife of 67 years. He was 94. His funeral was April 7 at A.S. Turner & Sons Chapel.
He was born in Nashville in 1920. After finishing high school, Lutz attended Vanderbilt University to study electrical engineering. He left college after a year to follow in his father’s footsteps and as a lineman and survey crew chief for AT&T.
With tensions steadily rising after World War II erupted, he joined the Army in 1941, about two months before the attack on Pearl Harbor. He moved to the Army Air Corps for flight engineer training. A year later, he was sent from Hawaii to the South Pacific Theater as a flight engineer with the 307th Bombardment Group.
A master sergeant, Lutz served as flight chief in the 13th Army Air Corps, 424th Bombardment Squadron of B-24s during its campaigns in Guadalcanal, New Guinea, Dutch East Indies and the southern Philippines. For his service, he was awarded a Silver Star and two Bronze Stars and commendation letters by the 424th.
Although she outranked him, Lutz was proud of his older sister, Mary Elizabeth Moore, an Army lieutenant. She also served during the war as one of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s couriers when he was a commander in Europe.
After leaving the Army Air Corps in 1945, Lutz resumed working for AT&T. He met Margie while stringing lines in her hometown of Union, Miss. They married in 1947 and moved to southern Kentucky. They had two sons.
He would spend the next 35 years at AT&T in various jobs. Along the way, the company awarded him several engineering innovation awards. He retired in 1982 after 43 years and continued to work as an architectural consultant.
Lutz was an active member at Briarcliff Baptist Church. He and his wife traveled the world with the senior social group. He also chaired a church committee responsible for building upkeep.
During his nine-year tenure as a board member at the King’s Bridge Retirement Community, Lutz oversaw the construction of a new activities building. After he retired from the board in 2004, he and his wife moved into King’s Bridge.
“He was so talented. He looked at things that could be better and made them better,” said Jim Waldrop, executive director at King’s Bridge. “He was just a super guy, always willing to help. He did it at the church, and he did it on the board here at King’s Bridge. And he did the same with people.”
Lutz not only helped people, he taught them to help themselves. He took a former Briarcliff Baptist church custodian under his wing and schooled him in electrical and carpentry skills. The young man was hired by AT&T.
“It was like going to technical college without going to technical college,” Waldrop said of Lutz’s mentoring. “Jack epitomized the thing our parents taught us – to leave a place better than we found it. ”
In addition to his son Ron, Lutz is survived by his son James L. Lutz of Tucker; three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
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