[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 147 (Thursday, November 14, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2023-E2024]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     MAURICE A. AND RITA A. LUTZE: FORGING THEIR GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JAMES A. BARCIA

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 14, 2002

  Mr. BARCIA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor two very special 
friends, Maurice and Rita Lutze of Otter Lake, Michigan, as they 
celebrate fifty years of marriage and a loving commitment to each other 
and their three children. The Barcia family has known the Lutze family 
for many years. It has been especially heartwarming over the years to 
get to know such a loving couple and their children.
  With Rita's brother Cliff and his wife Pat serving as witnesses, 
Maurice and Rita eloped and were married in Angola, Indiana, on 
September 13, 1952. Choosing to elope somehow seems appropriate for two 
people who have never been afraid of life's challenges.
  Maurice served as a Marine in the Korean War, was wounded and 
received the Purple Heart. He later worked as a toolmaker at Northern 
Tool and Die and as a foreman at General Motors Corporation's Fisher 
Turnstead plant. He also served as a volunteer firefighter for the 
Beecher Fire Department, where he rose to the rank of Assistant Chief. 
Meanwhile, Rita worked to create a loving and nurturing home 
environment in which to raise their daughters, Carrie and Charlotte, 
and son, Kim. After the children were grown, Maurice and Rita literally 
put their house on a trailer and moved it to a 10-acre parcel in Otter 
Lake where they raised horses and cows.
  From the day Maurice and Rita first met at the Red Lion restaurant in 
Bay City, they shared a special bond and a like-minded sense of humor. 
Friends and family are familiar with the story of that day at the Red 
Lion when Maurice and Rita couldn't stop laughing about a customer 
whose bald head was so shiny that Rita tried to fix her hair in the 
reflection. It was their mutual ability to find humor in everyday 
events that brought them together and that has kept them together 
through good times and more difficult circumstances.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in 
congratulating Maurice and Rita Lutze for achieving a rarely reached 
milestone of fifty years of marriage. I am confident they will enjoy 
many more years of love and happiness.

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