At times Marcetta Lutz’s basement was so full her sons couldn’t find the pool table.
It wasn’t that she was a pack rat. She collected other people’s collections that would one day go to the Arvada Historical Society.
Lutz, who was Arvada’s volunteer par excellence, died Dec. 9 at a care center. She was 88.
Her services will be at 3 p.m. Saturday at Wheat Ridge Presbyterian Church, 9180 W. 38th Ave.
After Arvada’s historical society was founded, people began donating and Lutz agreed to take paper products, including clippings and photos, and store them in her basement, “which became full,” said Lois Lindstrom Kennedy, a founder and first president of the historical society.
“Mom wouldn’t let us get our mitts on those papers,” recalled her son, Jonathan Lutz of Wheat Ridge.
“Marcetta was an inspiration to me,” said Kennedy. “If I asked her to do something, she did it immediately.”
Lutz would copy the donated materials onto acid-free paper and put the copies in acid-free envelopes to help preserve them, said Kennedy. It also kept the originals from being damaged by further handling.
Lutz contributed to four books that chronicled the history of Arvada and wrote a history of Wheat Ridge Presbyterian Church.
She was president of the historical society and chairwoman of the Jefferson County Historical Commission.
For her endless volunteering, Lutz was named Arvada Woman of the Year in 1987, was inducted into the Jefferson County Hall of Fame in 1995 and was awarded the Arvada Chamber of Commerce Image Award in 1982.
Lutz’s energy seemed boundless. In 1958 she bought a 1935 Chevrolet, changed the spark plugs, put in a new carburetor and resold it, said her son.
“She did it herself. My dad didn’t know how to do things like that,” Jonathan Lutz said.
Marcetta Rhoads was born July 10, 1920, in Panama while her father, Mark Rhoads, was stationed there with the military.
She graduated from Arvada High School. During World War II she worked in Washington, D.C., for a U.S. agency that decoded Japanese messages.
Her father was a founder of the National Security Agency, said Jonathan Lutz, and helped her get the job.
Marcetta Rhoads married Harold D. Lutz, whom she had met at the University of Denver, on March 22, 1943. He preceded her in death.
She earned her degree at DU and taught for two years at a Montessori school.
In addition to Jonathan, she is survived by four other sons: Mark Lutz of Phoenix, Joseph Lutz of Littleton, David Lutz of San Francisco and Stephen Lutz of Houston; 12 grandchildren; and five great -grandchildren.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
