Roller rink owner helped kids

11/11/2002

FINDLAY - Patsy J. Lutz, 70, who with her husband owned the Rollerland Skating Rink in Fostoria in the 1960s and '70s, died of respiratory failure Saturday at her home here.

A Findlay native, Mrs. Lutz managed apartments in Findlay and helped out at her daughter's ice cream shop.

Her daughter, Mary Lou Redick, said Mrs. Lutz will be remembered for her care of young people, especially those “who had fallen through the cracks.”

“She had a skating club and was a foster parent. She did things and took them places that they would never have otherwise seen,” said.

The skating club members had car washes and other fund-raisers to help pay for their field trips. “A lot of times, when those kids would get into trouble, they would have the school call Mom instead of calling their parents,” Ms. Redick said.

Mrs. Lutz graduated in 1950 from Findlay High School and soon after met her future husband, Clarence, at a skating rink. At one point, they began going to a skating rink in Fostoria, and became friends with the owner. One day in 1960 the owner offered to sell them the rink. They had just one day to think about it, Ms. Redick said, but they decided to buy it.

The couple ran the Rollerland Skating Rink for 18 years before they sold it. “They just decided to move on. Skating had run its time,” Ms. Redick said.

After the skating rink was sold, Ms. Lutz managed three apartment complexes in Findlay. Mr. Lutz died in 1990.

After the apartment complexes were sold in the 1990s, Mrs. Lutz went to work at the Jolly Dipper ice cream shop, which her daughter owned.

She is survived by her daughter, Mary Lou Redick, a granddaughter, and a grandson.

Services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Coldren-Crates Funeral Home, Findlay, where visitation will be after 2 p.m. tomorrow. The family requests tributes to the Humane Society and SPCA of Hancock County, 4550 Fostoria Ave., Findlay.