Lutz Is Rotary’s
Citizen of the Year

John Lutz, man of many talents, is the Randolph Rotary Club's citizen of the year for 2007.

As its 2007 Citizen of the Year, the Randolph Rotary Club has chosen a relative newcomer to town whose name is not yet a household word but who has quickly found important ways to contribute to his adopted town.

John Lutz, who with his wife Ruth lives at the top of the Elm Street hill, was presented with the award at Rotary’s recent meeting at their Grant Camp meeting place on Hebard Hill.

At the same meeting, Brent Kay, superintendent of the Orange-Southwest Supervisory Union, was named Rotarian of the Year.

Rotarian Steve Dimick chaired the committee which selected the recipients, and he presided at the ceremony.

John Lutz, he said, moved to Randolph in 2004 at age 65 after a career in printing and business and immediately began to make his presence felt as a volunteer in many, many ways.

In this last year, Lutz has become a key member of the Broadband Committee, one of three action committees established through the "Creative Economy" process. He is assisting that committee with what could be a dramatic breakthrough to wide access to computer service.

During the year, he also served as chair of the committee which conceived and created the first-ever (and first annual) Fiddlehead Festival. The Festival was held in May at VTC and Chandler Music Hall, stressing the interconnection of agriculture and the arts.

Besides helping to create the festival, Lutz designed and created the colorful program booklet for the event.

The latest John Lutz project is now available to the general public—a new history of Chandler Music Hall and Col. Albert B. Chandler himself.

Written for the hall’s centennial by Herald Editor Dick Drysdale, the 106-page book couldn’t have been created without Lutz. He designed the book, formatted it entirely on his computer, researched some graphics and scanned others, and shepherded the project through the new "on-demand" printing process.

"This book was a showcase for the incredible array of skills that John Lutz possesses and which he shares so generously," the author noted.

Lutz is also active in Bethany Church and is one of two members of The Mowing Project, which keeps the Elm Street roadside and the triangular park at the base of that street mown all summer long. The other member of The Mowing Project is John’s wife Ruth.

Musical Visit

Born in Elizabethtown Penna., Lutz first came to Vermont as a young man with a singing quartet, performing in Brattleboro, Andover, and Bridgewater. He was captivated by the Green Mountain State and that attraction only increased as he served as an orderly at Mary Hitchcock Hospital in Hanover for two years.

After his 1963 marriage to Ruth (Landis), he moved in 1966 to Quechee, and John began working for Roger Buck Printing, then started Imperial Printers, in Hartford, which he sold in 1979 as a highly successful enterprise, moving then to Dartmouth as Director of Printing, where he developed his interest in computers. Ruth was working at the time for Dartmouth at the Tuck School.

In 1989, True Basic Inc., of West Lebanon, a computer software firm, recruited John Lutz to turn the failing firm around. He was successful and stayed at the helm until 2006.

Lutz, a true believer in volunteerism, was already engaged in many community activities including being pastor of a Mennonite church in Taftsville for 11 years.

In addition to the above activities in Randolph he pursues a lifelong interest in stamps, and was co-organizer of a Stamp Fair in Bethel earlier this year. He also edits the "Vermont Philatelist," a postal history journal.

Rotarian of the Year

Brent Kay was selected as Rotarian of the Year largely because "he always volunteers for everything," Dimick explained.

In particular, however, Kay this year created the first new fundraising project in years for the Randolph Rotary Club. An art auction, held in August, attracted a crowd of more than 100 people and raised over $10,000 for Rotary’s various projects.

Kay was born in 1965 in Galt, Ontario and at 17 he was enrolled in university with the aim of becoming a doctor. But his plans were brought to a halt when he discovered he didn’t like blood. Not to be deterred, he quickly turned to accounting, his college minor, and worked for Allstate Insurance in corporate finance. By the time he was 24, he held the position of head of the corporate investment division.

Kay then went back to school and earned a B.Ed and a Masters in Finance at the University of New Brunswick. His PhD came from the University of Saskatchewan where he became the youngest professor on the faculty at age 28. He later worked for four years as supervisor of the Swift Current school district in Saskatchewan.

While in Canada one of Kay’s favorite pastimes was playing rugby, and it was as rugby coach that he met his wife Rhonda. The two of them live on LaBounty Road.

In addition to Rotary, Kay currently serves on 17 different boards and committees. In July 2008 he will begin his year as president of Randolph Rotary.