Beatrice Dawn Lutz, 84, succumbed after a several month battle with the frailties of old age on July 31, 2008, at Northern Montana Hospital in Havre.
Bea was cremated as requested and will be placed beside her loving husband, Joseph, at the Highland Cemetery in Havre. Her memorial service will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday, Aug. 8, 2008, at the Van Orsdel United Methodist Church with Pastor Richard Rice officiating. A reception will follow at the church immediately after her memorial service. Remembrances in Bea’s honor to a preferred charity are encouraged. Services and arrangements have been entrusted to Holland & Bonine Funeral Home. Bea was born at the family home in Nashua, on Jan. 19, 1924. Bea was the youngest of the four children of James and Essie (Smith) Mitchell. Her parents homesteaded to Valley County from Illinois in 1908, a century ago this summer. Bea graduated from Nashua High School in 1942, and during World War II worked for the Corps of Engineers at Fort Peck, from 1942 to 1945. On Jan. 27, 1945, she married her high school sweetheart Joseph H. Lutz in Arlington, Va. Following his discharge from the U.S. Marine Corps the couple moved to Havre where Joseph graduated with a teaching degree from Northern Montana College in 1947, and was student body president that same year. The Lutz’s moved from school to school in Montana, residing in Culbertson, Belgrade, Bridger, Red Lodge and Columbia Falls before returning to Havre in the summer of 1966. Joe Lutz retired as superintendent of the Havre Public Schools in the early 1980’s. Bea and Joe Lutz celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in Havre just six weeks before Joe died on March 6, 1995. Bea had a great love of family and friends. She was a member of the Van Orsdel United Methodist Church in Havre and a 40-year member of P.E.O. Chapter AZ in Havre. She was a past volunteer at Northern Montana Hospital, and a member of the Friends of the Havre- Hill County Library and the Wesley Circle. For almost 25 years she belonged to the contract bridge leagues in Havre and Chinook. Bea was preceded in death by her husband; her parents; an older brother, Ivan (Alma) Mitchell of Tumwater, Wash.; and an older sister, Mary (James) Scott of Glasgow. Bea is survived by an older brother, Philip (Adeline) Mitchell of Glasgow; two sons, Dr. Dennis (Meryl) Lutz of Minot, N. D., and Douglas (Carol) Lutz of Albuquerque, N. M. ; five grandchildren, Cari (Michael) Negrin of Los Angeles, Jason (Libby) Lutz of St. Louis, Mo., and Matthew (Kate) Lutz, Cody Lutz and Colter Lutz all of Albuquerque, N. M.; three great-grandchildren, Alexandra and Justin Lutz of St. Louis, Mo., and Meara Lutz of Albuquerque, N.M.; and several nieces and nephew. Bea was especially proud to include long-time, devoted, honorary children, Judy and Dave Greenwood of Havre as part of her immediate family.
