In Memory Of

John Michael Luther

15 January 1966 - 18 October 2003

Biography

Compiled by Phyllis and Jeannette, John's sisters.

John was born on January 15, 1966.

His musical undertaking began with trumpet lessons, which didn't last much past the playing of "When the Saint Go Marching In." He was musically inclined, though, and was self-taught on guitar, wrote lyrics and composed music. He found satisfaction, artistic achievement and happiness through his music. On January 17, 2001, he e-mailed to me, "Lastly on the band, we now have, as of last night, a CD for sale on our web page! Really excited about the progress we have made in the last month or so. though most others show little interest or give any support. Guess that just drives us harder to show this isn't just a waste of time or a passing phase."

When John was younger, he played in Little League baseball. He was the pitcher for the team and loved the sport. One year he broke his leg when sliding into second base, and when they put the cast on his leg, he decorated it to look like a tube sock and Van tennis shoe. John followed a variety of sports on television. At one point he was watching Australian football on some obscure cable channel.

He also loved the water-skim boarding at the beach, taking wind surfing lessons in Germany, fishing on the river that runs through our town. I think he loved the aspect of just being by water, when he fished he usually threw back what he caught rather than cleaning and cooking it. The daredevil that John was, he would use a ladder to climb onto the roof the house and do cannonball jumps into the deep end of the swimming pool in the backyard.

John was unconventional in a lot of ways. He did not have a desire to work a white-collar, 9-5 job. To be able to support himself and have time for his passion of music, John convinced a local Mexican restaurant to create a delivery service, for which he was solely responsible. When John died the owners of the restaurant recounted the stories of how John was just like family to them, that they wanted to teach him how to make tortillas from scratch, and how so many of his "regulars" on the delivery schedule had come to count on seeing John regularly. John had a shy personality, but that job helped him to open up to a lot of people.

Just when you thought you knew everything about him, it was just like John to bring up an interest in and knowledge of something quirky and different. One of those interests was astronomy. John had bought a telescope and would follow unusual sky phenomena with it. When I was home one spring, he set it up to show me the craters on the moon, and the rings around Saturn.

Pets have always been part of the home that John lived in, and he loved animals. John's last dog was Kramer, a long-haired chihuahua, who died a few months before John. Though a small dog, Kramer could be feisty and bite, but he was gentle around John, usually sleeping with him in the evenings. Kramer was a little overweight, and John had built a ramp for Kramer to use to climb up on John's bed. John would ride Kramer around town in the car, and there was nothing more humorous than seeing John behind the wheel of the car, with Kramer on John's lap looking as if Kramer were driving. John was compassionate toward stray animals, and on a couple occasions when there weren't any current pets, he "found" kitties that needed a home and would bring them to the house. He would usually name them after one of Mom's favorite ball players so that she would be more favorable to keeping the cat (and she always did). When I "discovered" the Westminster Dog show several years ago, I called John to tell him about it being televised. He kind of laughed and said "Mom and I have been watching that for years now, it's our tradition."

If you would like to submit anything to be added to this site (such as photos, memories, sentiments, etc.), please send correspondence to john@pinkfloydchat.net

- Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher (1844-1900)