THE BIS BOYS and GRANDMA LUTZ

THE BIS BOYS and GRANDMA LUTZ
Written by Jean Steel Venrick

Nancy and Sue had other relatives who were employees: their Uncle Homer Lutz who was the dietitian and oversaw the canning of the fruits and vegetables and butchering of animals for their meat supply. Homer Lutz’s wife, Fern, was a nurse at the BIS Hospital. Bill Franke, Ida’s husband, was a night-time guard. Nancy recalled how the BIS boys made all the holiday decorations. She remembered the 4^th of July parades,the contests and a picnic afterwards. Other holidays were celebrated in the same manner.

You may wonder why I titled this “Grandma Lutz and the BIS boys” and then wrote so much about the BIS; well, Grandma Lutz had connections with the School not only because she had adult children who were employees there but she had unique involvements with the BIS boys.

GRANDMA LUTZ'S HOME

CLARA ELIZABETH LUTZ (Grandma) lived down the road from the school at the corner of the BIS Road and Blue Valley Road. Although you would never know there was a house there, it was down over the hill and back a lane accessed from Blue Valley Road. The house originally being log was later covered with wood siding, could not be seen from either road. She and her husband owned and farmed 100 acres and their property adjoining the Boys Industrial School property.

Bob Lutz, Clara’s husband, died December 19, 1938, but Clara continued living in the house alone, tending to their farm animals. The house had no running water or furnace, just wood heating and no phone, she did not want those amenities. She had a spring house below the house where she kept her milk and butter and other food needed cooling, and a summer kitchen. There was a large round tile in the spring house that filled with water and into that she would put sealed jars to keep food cold.

RUNAWAY BOYS would stop by her place for water from the back porch pump. She was never afraid of the boys. She would welcome them into her house and fix homemade bread sandwiches with butter and jelly or peanut butter. Then she would pack a little lunch of sandwiches and fruit for them and tell them they could go down Blue Valley Road to Route 33 where they could get a ride. As soon as they left she would walk out the the lane and up to BIS Road to a neighbor who had a phone; she called the School and told them the boys had run away and which way they were headed. It wouldn’t be long until the boys were caught and taken back to the School. Joe Rockey, another employee, was one colorful guy who captured runaways and often took them back on his motorcycle. Sometimes boys wanted to be captured so their time would be extended because it was better than their home life, Nancy said.

THE BOYS sometimes slept in Clara’s barn in the hay and then tell her about it. The boys would get into her cellar where she kept her canned fruit and help themselves. She didn’t criticize them but would talk to them and send them on their way. Eventually she got a phone and could now phone the School about runaway boys. Only once was she a bit afraid when a boy walked into her house carrying her hatchet and he was going to take it with him. Clara told him, “If you take my hatchet I won’t have any way to split kindling to start my fire.” After a bit of persuastion he left the hatchet.

Grandma (Clara) eventually did get a furnace installed – she had free gas. Clara never had a car but her son, Homer, would stop by a couple times a day to see how she was getting along. She lived there on her farm for over 40 years by herself, never once being hurt by the BIS boys. She never locked her doors except when she went to church.

Nancy said Grandma Lutz taught all her grandchildren how to kill and dress chickens; she would tie the chicken’s legs on the clothesline and chop off its head; let the blood drain out and she had a pot of boiling water ready to scald the chicken. She even dressed some chickens for other people.

NANCY SAID COPPERHEAD SNAKES were plentiful in that area so you had to watch your step.

GRANDMA LUTZ stayed there by herself until, later in life, when she fell on her porch and couldn’t get up until someone came by to help her. She had covered herself with a couple throw rugs close by. After that it was decided she better not live alone any longer so she was taken to Crestview Nursing Home in Lancaster where she died October 7, 1984 at the age of 97.

NANCY COMBS STRAIT

NANCY COMBS STRAIT well remembers her Grandma Lutz talking about the BIS boys, “Now they won’t hurt you…” and they didn’t because she was gentle and kind to them. Her farm house was a regular “stopping off place” for BIS runaways.

COPYRIGHTED 2011 by Bill & Jean Venrick

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THANKS TO MY WIFE, JEAN, for her interview with her cousin, Nancy Combs Strait, telling about Grandma Lutz. I wonder how many boys will read this and recall that old lady who lived by herself and gave them a packed lunch and sent them on their way only to call the School and let them know which way the boys went. Well, she was gentle and kind to them. THE WORDWRIGHT