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Elizabeth Riegler MacManus

Honoring those who have gone before

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When Vernon Wynn looks across U.S. 41, he can see the final resting place of dozens of his relatives.

They’re among the roughly 1,600 people buried in Lutz Cemetery, at the corner of U.S. 41 and Fifth Ave., N .E.

The cemetery was established in 1911, and the first person buried there is known only as Mr. Nims, according to local historians. His grave marker is gone, but he is believed to have been buried there in 1914.

A scene from the Lutz Cemetery, as mist rises on a recent early morning. (B.C. Manion)

The plot of land offers a look into the community’s past, with generations of families buried there, and hundreds of veterans, too.

Some grave markers offer a spiritual message: “The Lord is my shepherd,” and “Thy will be done” and, “Every day is a gift from God. Share it with someone else.”

Another states simply: “Gone, but not forgotten.”

Some laid to rest there are widely known throughout Lutz.

Oscar Cooler, for instance, was a champion for youth sports, and there’s a sports complex named for him on Lutz Lake Fern Road.

Carolyn Meeker, former president of the Lutz Civic Association, is buried there, too. She was tenacious at Hillsborough County zoning hearings, taking on anyone who threatened to change the character of Lutz.

Ralph Combs, the very first Eagle Scout from Troop 12, is laid to rest there, too, Wynn said.

Wynn, who is president of the Lutz Cemetery Association, has deep roots in Lutz.

“My grandparents came here in 1920,” he said. “Where I live now, is where I was born and raised.”

Kathy Vanater, Vernon Wynn and Bob Jackson are officers in the Lutz Cemetery Association. They’re working to ensure the upkeep of the cemetery, where an estimated 1,600 are buried.

And, it’s because of that affinity for the community that Wynn decided to take an active role in the cemetery association.

The group wants to ensure that the grounds are well-kept, into perpetuity.

Wynn said their aim is: “To make sure that everything is going to be good for the community.”

“It’s paying respect to the people buried there,” said Kathy Vanater, the cemetery association’s secretary/treasurer.

Land for the cemetery was donated to the community, more than a century ago, by C.E. Thomas, who was president of the North Tampa Land Company, according to accounts published in The Tampa Tribune and other local publications.

The company was made up of a group of Chicago landowners who bought about 32,000 acres, north of the city of Tampa.

The original cemetery plot was 230 feet by 80 feet, according to “Citrus, Sawmills, Critters, Crackers …,” a local history book by Elizabeth Riegler MacManus and her daughter, Susan A. MacManus.

Over time, the cemetery has expanded.

“The folks in the community used to take care of the grounds,” Vanater said.

Volunteers gather in 1911 to clear land for the Lutz Cemetery. (Credit: ‘Going, Going, Almost Gone … Lutz-Land O’ Lakes Pioneers Share Their Precious Memories’)

Indeed, according to the MacManus book, when area residents gathered to clean up the cemetery, men would come with hoses and rakes, and women would pack a picnic lunch.

But, by the mid-1950s, the volunteer cleanups had dwindled.

“So, the Lutz Cemetery Association formed in 1956,” Vanater said.

For decades, the organization was low-key.

In recent years, though, a more active group of volunteers has stepped up — completing needed repairs, maintaining the grounds and making plans for its future upkeep.

Dead trees have been removed. The utility shed has a new roof. A replica of the original archway has been erected, and there’s now a cemetery sign.

Over the years, most of the cemetery plots have been sold, said Vanater, a banker, by profession. But, when those plots were sold, the sales weren’t accompanied by perpetual maintenance plans, and now there are just about 75 plots remaining, she said.

So, Vanater said, “we’re trying to keep an income to be able to maintain the grounds.”

To that end, Bob Jackson, the association’s vice president for administration, spent months researching the idea of purchasing a columbarium — which contains niches for urns containing cremains.

Like Wynn, Jackson feels a personal connection to the traditional burial place in Lutz.

“I’m fourth generation. My grandparents are in that cemetery,” Jackson said.

After months of research, he found a company in Canada that produces the kind of columbarium the association found suitable for the cemetery.

The first columbarium was installed at the cemetery in July. It has 64 niches, which can hold two urns each.

The cemetery has plenty of space to erect additional columbariums, depending on the demand.

Besides providing a source of revenue for the cemetery, the columbarium provides additional capacity to serve people who want Lutz to be their final resting place, said Vanater, who joined the volunteer association at the request of a friend, and expected to pitch in for a year. That was nine years ago.

The association, Wynn said, just wants to keep the community’s cemetery alive.

Lutz Cemetery Association Board Members
Vernon Wynn, president
Bob Jackson, vice president
Mary Lewis, vice president
Kathy Vanater, secretary/treasurer
Judi Wynn
Terry Donovan
John Hodges
Tim Goins

Columbariums
For those interested in having Lutz as their final resting place, there’s another option available.

The Lutz Cemetery Association has added a columbarium that has 64 niches. Each niche can hold two urns each.

The new option provides a source of revenue needed to continue the upkeep of the cemetery grounds, and also expands the capacity of the cemetery to accommodate more people who wish for it to be their final resting place.

Each of the niches in the columbarium holds up to two urns, with the cost for the niches ranging from $1,200 to $1,500, depending on the niche’s location in the columbarium.

Anyone who wishes to purchase a niche should contact Bob Jackson, (813) 928-9412 or Vern Wynn, at (813) 293-0263.

Published December 11, 2019

Book pays homage to Florida minority political trailblazers

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When Dr. Susan A. MacManus set out a decade ago to write “Florida’s Minority Trailblazers,” she wanted to recognize the men and women who changed the face of Florida’s government.

Her book does just that.

She recounts the personal stories of the first minority men and women elected or appointed to state legislative, executive and judicial offices, and to the U.S. Congress since the 1960s.

Dr. Susan MacManus, who lives in Land O’ Lakes, is widely known for her expertise regarding Florida politics. (Courtesy of Susan MacManus)

Through personal interviews, MacManus discovered what motivated them to seek political office.

Her book provides a wealth of information about how they ran their campaigns, what kinds of discrimination they encountered, what the experience meant to them and what advice they would offer aspiring politicians.

One of the politicians profiled is Bob Martinez, a former mayor of Tampa, who became Florida’s first Hispanic governor.

MacManus said she decided to write the book because she believes it was important to preserve these stories as part of Florida’s political history.

“It’s very easy to take for granted what we have at present, but it’s also important to know how we got to this point, and who took risks and made sacrifices for the public good,” MacManus said, during a recent interview in her Land O’ Lakes home.

Richard E. Foglesong, author of “Immigrant Prince: Mel Martinez and the American Dream,” wrote that MacManus’ book “Saves a piece of Florida’s political history by narrating the personal stories of the state’s ‘minority trailblazers’ from the Civil Rights Movement to the present day.”

In essence, MacManus said she wanted to write a book that chronicled real stories about real people.

“The whole purpose was to show, through people, the growing diversity of Florida, both racially and ethnically, as well as politically through biographies and in-person accounts,” she said.

In the forward of the book, David R. Colburn, writes “There is perhaps no recent book that reminds readers of the state’s rich political and diverse culture more than “Florida’s Minority Trailblazers,” by Susan MacManus.

“She emphasizes that the story of Florida is more than just about new beginnings, population growth, and economic opportunity; it is also about the struggle for civil rights, equal justice, opportunity for all Floridians, and political background,” Colburn wrote.

The volume will come in handy for historians and journalists, and college professors, too, said MacManus, who is a distinguished professor at the University of South Florida.

This is just one of numerous photographs in ‘Florida’s Minority Trailblazers,’ a book by Susan MacManus, of Land O’ Lakes. (Courtesy of Florida Memory Project (part of the State Archives)

“There were literally no materials that were readily available for teaching that would be able to personalize the changing faces of our elected officials, in state politics, particularly,” she said.

The book looks at factors that forced the South to change laws and processes that discriminated against persons of color, and notes the importance of single-member districts, redistricting and term limits in opening up the political arena to minority candidates.

MacManus said her approach to the book was influenced by the work she did with her mother,

the late Elizabeth Riegler MacManus, on local history books.

She and her mother are co-authors of “Citrus, Sawmills, Critters & Crackers,” and “Going, Going, Almost Gone …” which trace the history of Lutz and Land O’ Lakes.

Those books stemmed from scores of taped interviews that MacManus’ mother conducted with area old-timers who had deep roots in the settlements north of Tampa.

The interviews were supplemented with property records, advertisements, old brochures, photographs, documents and anything else that would help tell the community’s story.

Like her mother, MacManus thought it important to include personal stories, along with hard facts.

Arranging the interviews was a challenge.

“These are very busy, very prominent people,” she said.

Gaining the trust of the potential interview subject was essential, too.

In some cases, MacManus was seeking meetings with people who didn’t know her. So, she turned to people who do, to help her secure those interviews.

“It took time to get to them,” she said. “But, once I got the interviews, they were very gracious.”

As she talked with people from diverse backgrounds, some common themes emerged, MacManus said.

“One of the questions I asked was: ‘What kind of roadblocks did you experience?

“And, every one of them had something they could mention. None of these trailblazers had it easy.

“On the other hand, when I asked, ‘Who helped you along the way?’ Everyone had a cheerleader and some mentors.”

When she asked what sort of advice they would offer future politicians, a common refrain was: “Make sure this is something you and your family want to do. It is very, very demanding and draining to go into public office.”

In her work, MacManus said she tries to encourage students to consider becoming public servants.

But, she said there have been times over the years that she has worried that fewer people would be willing to run for office.

She routinely asks students if they have political ambitions.

“For a long time, I didn’t see but one or two hands out of 50,” she said. Recently, though, she’s been encouraged: “Now, I see 10 or 12.”

Of those who are interested, she said, “I think they think they can be change agents.”

MacManus also has noticed in the data that the number of people with No Party Affiliation is increasing.

She attributes that to a rise in the number of younger people who are alienated by the traditional two-party system.

“It’ll be interesting to see what they do with politics,” MacManus said. “It is a party-dominated political system, and it’s going to be hard to break that.”

To order a copy of the book, call (800) 226-3822 or email .

Published August 30, 2017

The Lutz Depot, by design

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Those wishing to escape the oppressive heat during the Fourth of July festivities in Lutz may have decided to check out a train show inside the Lutz Branch Library.

If I they did, they could have seen an exhibit presented by the Suncoast American Flyer Enthusiasts.

Eugene Vrooman, left, explains differences in the type of gauge size trains running on the tracks at the Lutz Public Library. (Fred Bellet)

And, perhaps they would have had a chance to chat with Eugene Vrooman, one of the club’s members.

If they did, Vrooman may have pointed out a wall display, showing the plans that were used to build the Lutz Depot building, across the street from the library.

Vrooman is quite familiar with the plans. He’s the one who drew them.

“We’ve done this (train) show for 17 years in a row,” Vrooman said, noting the Lutz Depot building was dedicated to the community’s residents in 2000.

He recounted how he got involved with the depot project.

“My brother-in-law came down from Lake Park, at Dale Mabry and Van Dyke, and he said that he went to that craft show, and there were some people who were planning to reestablish a train building,” Vrooman said.

So, the Lutz man, who is a draftsman, volunteered to draw up the plans.

He used a photo from “Citrus, Sawmills, Critters & Crackers,” by Elizabeth Riegler MacManus and Susan A. MacManus, to provide the building’s dimensions.

“I got the book and Xeroxed the pictures,” Vrooman said.

“I worked on it for about three months,” he added. It was a fun, but time-consuming project.

He isn’t an architect, so he needed one to review and sign off on the plans. That’s where Randy Stribling came in.

“He had to be happy with how the building was, appearance and structural,” Vrooman said.

The draftsman said he knew that the building had to be built to withstand hurricane winds, but he didn’t want it to be ugly.

Eugene Vrooman, a draftsman by trade, drew the drawings for this building, which was erected in 2000. He based the dimensions on a photo that was published in ‘Citrus, Sawmills, Critters & Crackers,’ by Elizabeth Riegler MacManus and Susan A. MacManus. (B.C. Manion)

“The intent was to make it look like the original building,” he said.

He found a creative way to fortify the structure.

“I came up with this idea of taking steel plates and putting them in the wood columns and beams, hiding them and putting the bolts through that would hold them all together,” he said.

He is completely confident it will withstand high winds.

“It’s going to be there. It has the strength of eternity,” Vrooman said.

And, despite nearly two decades since the project’s completion, Vrooman still feels a surge of satisfaction when he passes by the Lutz Depot.

The project is a testimony to community involvement, he noted.

“All of this material was paid for by donations, or donated by material suppliers,” he said, and volunteers completed the actual construction.

“The intention was to dedicate the building to the citizens of Lutz on July 4, 2000.

“So, July 3, 2000, it hadn’t received its certificate of occupancy.

“The reason it hadn’t received its certificate of occupancy was because the building inspector rejected the certificate, based on this little handrail.

“The inspector said the handrail wasn’t the right height,” he said.

That correction was made and the certificate of occupancy was issued on the afternoon of July 3, he said.

That allowed the dignitaries to come to the building and stand on the deck during the Fourth of July, and to dedicate the depot to the citizens of Lutz.

“It was nip and tuck,” Vrooman recalled.

For Vrooman, the depot building is not only a community fixture, but a reminder of the role he played in helping it to become a reality.

“It’s part of who I am,” the draftsman said. “I have a plaque on the side of the building with my name on it.”

Published July 26, 2017

Tracing the development of early Lutz

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Once one of the most active stops for wood-burning locomotives, Lutz was settled with just a handful of homesteaders.

William Paul Lutz was a railroad engineer. He and his brother, Charles, played a pivotal role in the history of Lutz, a community north of Tampa. (Photographs courtesy of Susan A. MacManus)
William Paul Lutz was a railroad engineer. He and his brother, Charles, played a pivotal role in the history of Lutz, a community north of Tampa.
(Photographs courtesy of Susan A. MacManus)

There was a store and a couple of houses there in 1907, and once the Tampa Northern Railroad was extended from Brooksville to Tampa that same year, the Concord Stagecoach Line went out of business.

But, that news didn’t discourage two brothers from West Virginia — William Paul Lutz and Charles Henry Lutz.

That’s because one of the largest sawmills in northwest Hillsborough County was the Gulf Pine Lumber Company — which was south of Odessa and owned by Charles Lutz.

In 1909, Charles Lutz built a tram track to carry his lumber 10 miles to the east, connecting his sawmill to the Tampa Northern Railroad at what is now Lutz Lake Fern Road and U.S. 41.

William Lutz — Charles’ brother — was the railroad engineer.

Most of the area was “nothin’ but sand,” according to the recollections of Dorothy Lutz Jones, stepdaughter of William Lutz.

“Then from there on to Tampa, there was nothin’ until you got there, down to the city,” Jones is quoted in an account published by local historian Susan A. MacManus, a professor at the University of South Florida.

First Lutz United Brethren Church was built in 1914. Before that, church members met at Lutz School.
First Lutz United Brethren Church was built in 1914. Before that, church members met at Lutz School.

MacManus and her mother, Elizabeth Riegler MacManus, wrote “Citrus, Sawmills, Critters and Crackers: Life in Early Lutz and Central Pasco County.

William Lutz is reported to have witnessed “strange events” as he engineered his train through such a remote countryside.

“It was not uncommon to come across public hangings and to see some unfortunate soul with his neck still in the noose,” the local history book notes.

According to his wife’s journal, William Lutz sold cars on the side and would take orders for a vehicle, and then strike one on the tracks with his locomotive.

“The railroad would pay for the damaged car, Lutz would buy it, have it repaired, and then sell it to his customer,” according to a published account.

William Lutz exhibited a better side of his nature to the family of Ella McDowell in December 1912. Ella had received a handwritten note thrown from the train by Lutz inviting her to ride with him to Tarpon Springs and spend Christmas with his family.

Trains like these helped pave the way to Florida’s future. (Courtesy of Tampa Bay History Center)
Trains like these helped pave the way to Florida’s future.
(Courtesy of Tampa Bay History Center)

The year — 1912 — was also a memorable year for the local residents demanding their own post office.

That was largely because the investors of the North Tampa Land Company.

C.E. Thomas, the company’s president, had been busy marketing “…a vast settlement where folks could buy tracts of land to farm and raise orange groves,” according to the MacManus’ book.

Thomas would eventually build the new post office, and donate land for the wood-frame schoolhouse, cemetery and church. He even provided jobs with his nursery.

But, when postal officials named the new post office “Lutz” on March 27, 1912, they helped cement the memory of the contributions of the two Lutz brothers, in an area still generally known today as North Tampa.

Doug Sanders has a penchant for unearthing interesting stories about local history. His sleuthing skills have been developed through his experiences in newspaper and government work. If you have an idea for a future history column, contact Doug at .

Published November 9, 2016

 

A walk through history at Lutz Cemetery

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The first resident of the Lutz Cemetery is a man known only as Mr. Nims. His grave marker is gone and the burial plot nearly obliterated.

Local historians think he was buried there in 1914, and almost nothing is known of his personal history.

That is not the situation, however, for most of the people resting in peace at this hallowed ground, off U.S. 41 at Fifth Avenue.

Instead, their headstones and grave markers are a narrative of the history of Lutz from past to present.

The cemetery is more than 100 years old.

The Lutz Cemetery Association Inc., maintains the Lutz Cemetery. Vernon Wynn is the president of the association; Mary Lewis is vice president and also director of operations for the cemetery. (Kathy Steele/Staff Photo)
The Lutz Cemetery Association Inc., maintains the Lutz Cemetery. Vernon Wynn is the president of the association; Mary Lewis is vice president and also director of operations for the cemetery.
(Kathy Steele/Staff Photos)

The original cemetery plot was 230 feet by 80 feet, in what today is the western portion of the cemetery, according to “Citrus, Sawmills, Critters, Crackers,” a history of Lutz by Elizabeth Riegler MacManus and her daughter, Susan MacManus.

Today, the site measures nearly 8 acres.

Early settlers who are buried include Fred Polen, a teacher at Myrtle School, and later a mail carrier; and Herbert Vernon, owner of Vernon & Land Co. Three generations of the Goheens can be found there, too.

Ira Goheen and his father, Alfred, made Mr. Nims’ coffin, according to the MacManus’ book.

Modern day community activists also are at the Lutz Cemetery including Oscar Cooler, a champion of Lutz youth sports. The Oscar Cooler Sports Complex is named for him. And Carolyn Meeker, former president of the Lutz Civic Association, is another activist buried there.

“This is a community cemetery,” said Mary Lewis, vice president of the Lutz Cemetery Association Inc., and the cemetery’s director of operations.

The cemetery is a legacy donated to Lutz residents by C. E. Thomas, president of the North Tampa Land Company. A group of Chicago investors bought about 32,000 acres, north of the city of Tampa. They called their proposed settlement “North Tampa.”

The company targeted its advertising to would-be farmers and settlers in the North and Midwest, especially in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.

The first permanent settler was Mike Riegler, a 30-year-old German immigrant who later donated land for the Myrtle-Denham School.

A few years into the land sales, Thomas made an offer that anyone who bought 10 acres could have a free lot in town or a burial plot in the cemetery.

New signs display the rules of the Lutz Cemetery.
New signs display the rules of the Lutz Cemetery.

Residents cared for the cemetery in the days when activities, such as “barn raising” ceremonies, still thrived and brought families together for a common effort.

For many years, Lutz’ residents gathered once or twice a year to tend to the cemetery. According to the MacManus’ book, men would come with hoes and rakes; women would pack a picnic lunch.

Just when that practice ended isn’t clear but the Lutz Cemetery Association came together in the mid-1950s, said Vernon Wynn, the association’s current president.

“It goes waaaay back,” Wynn said.

But, the association has had a low profile within the community, he said.

Today, the association is taking a more activist role in bringing attention to the cemetery. Board members recently installed a Lutz Cemetery sign near the front of the cemetery facing U.S. 41. For years, motorists could zip past and not realize the cemetery was there.

“It’s really visible now, where before it wasn’t,” Wynn said.

Wynn can point in almost any direction at the cemetery and find a family member. He traces his roots to Lutz pioneers who were among the earliest to buy land and settle down.

He remembers a garage, close by the cemetery, owned by Bill and Mary Starkey.

“Everyone gathered there. It was the only automotive type garage out here,” Wynn said. “It was kind of like a meeting place.”

Today, a few shade trees and a brick utility building on cemetery property might catch someone’s eye, said Lewis, who more than 27 years ago began working with the association.

She takes care of the cemetery’s operations from cutting grass to selling burial plots.

To most people passing by, she said, “It’s just a piece of property with a little building on it.”

The sign isn’t the only new addition to the cemetery.

Decades ago, a metal archway covered the entrance into the cemetery. It long ago was taken down. But, a replica of the archway now stands in front of the small brick utility building.

For the first time, the association had a display table at this year’s traditional Lutz Fourth of July parade.

Association members handed out brochures and collected about $1,200 in donations.

The money is essential to maintaining and preserving the cemetery, Wynn said.

The contributions are needed, said Lewis, a Lutz transplant from Long Island, New York. “People think it survives on its own.”

A few months ago, several pine trees had to be removed at a cost of about $3,000. A new roof had to be put on the utility building.

“We just can’t continue taking care of this, unless donations are made to the association,” Wynn said.

More than 1,600 people are buried at Lutz Cemetery, Lewis said. Only about 100 gravesites remain.

The association is considering adding cremation sites, and potentially looking to add more land to the cemetery.

Lewis came to Lutz in 1973, for a weekend of fun with friends, and to attend the annual pirate fest and Gasparilla parade. She was 25 years old and newly widowed.

She and a friend thought the trip to Tampa would be a distraction.

“Before it was over, I’d bought a house,” Lewis said.

And she stayed.

“I’ve never had a desire to leave. I’ve always felt comfortable here,” she said.

The Lutz Cemetery will be her final resting place.

For information contact Lewis at (813) 310-6637, or write to Lutz Cemetery Association, P. O. Box 1353, Lutz, FL 33548.

Published November 11, 2015 

It’s a small world, after all

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Richard and Juanita Wirth, of Lutz, have been traveling to Germany for years, to join in Oktoberfest festivities.

This year, though, when they stopped in Tutzing, Germany, they were surprised to find a butcher shop called Lutz, Metzgerie.

Juanita and Richard Wirth, at their comfortable home in Lutz, recount running across another place called Lutz during their recent visit to celebrate Oktoberfest in Germany. (B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)
Juanita and Richard Wirth, at their comfortable home in Lutz, recount running across another place called Lutz during their recent visit to celebrate Oktoberfest in Germany.
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)

“We stopped and shared that we lived in Lutz, Florida,” Juanita Wirth said. “They were delighted to find the name had made it all of the way to Florida,” she said.

The shop is a popular place to eat lunch, and that’s where the Wirths grabbed a bite on their final day there.

They thought it was fun to find a place so far away, which shares the same name as the place that they call home.

Their Lutz got its name from two brothers, William and Charles Lutz, who both had connections with railroads that met and joined at Lutz Junction, according to research done by Elizabeth Riegler MacManus and Susan A. MacManus, co-authors of two local history books detailing the early days of Lutz and Land O’ Lakes.

Richard Wirth poses with a sign for Lutz, Metzgerie, a butcher shop in Tutzing, Germany. The couple thought it was fun to come across a place that shares the same name as the place where they call home. The Germans they met there thought it was neat, too. (Courtesy of Juanita Wirth)
Richard Wirth poses with a sign for Lutz, Metzgerie, a butcher shop in Tutzing, Germany. The couple thought it was fun to come across a place that shares the same name as the place where they call home. The Germans they met there thought it was neat, too.
(Courtesy of Juanita Wirth)

And, the Oktoberfest that the couple so thoroughly enjoys has its roots in history, too.

The popular German festival traditionally starts in the third weekend of September. It began with the Royal Wedding, which took place on Oct. 12, 1810, when Crown Prince Ludwig, later to become King Ludwig I, was married to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen.

As for Juanita, a retired teacher and Richard, a retired postal worker and former plant nursery owner, visiting Germany is all about enjoying the festivities, admiring the country’s beauty, interacting with its people — and, of course, having some beer.

Published November 4, 2015

Serving up fried chicken, nostalgia

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They come to the Old Lutz School, on U.S. 41, bearing casserole dishes and memories to share.

These are men and women who have deep roots in Lutz and Land O’ Lakes.

Their families helped settle the area, and every year they come to celebrate the connections they feel to the community and each other.

The size of the annual gathering has diminished over time, as people have died or can no longer attend.

Jim Dennison slices up a platter of fresh veggies for the descendants’ day feast at the Old Lutz Schoolhouse. (B.C. Manion/Staff Photos)
Jim Dennison slices up a platter of fresh veggies for the descendants’ day feast at the Old Lutz Schoolhouse.
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photos)

“We have some people who won’t be with us anymore, like Cliff Dennison, bless his heart. He used to do this with me. He’s in a nursing home now,” said Annie Fernandez, the event’s organizer.

“This year, I pretty much did it myself,” said Fernandez, who was born in her grandmother’s front bedroom, off the edge of an orange grove, in 1942.

The annual get-togethers with descendants of Lutz pioneers used to be organized by Elizabeth Riegler MacManus, a local historian, who co-authored with her daughter, Susan A. MacManus, an extensive history of the area called “Citrus, Sawmills, Critters and Crackers: Life in Early Lutz and Central Pasco County.”

Elizabeth MacManus organized the event for 20 years but, after that, Dennison and Fernandez took over the duties.

The group has met in three different locations over the years. First, they gathered at a church, then at the Lutz Community Center, and for the past few years, at the Old Lutz Schoolhouse.

“We have this event every year because everybody likes to get together and chit-chat about things that happened to them a long time ago,” said Fernandez, whose family ties to Lutz date back to around 1920.

It’s a true potluck, said Fernandez said, noting the menu is never known completely until the participants show up with their dish.

At this particular gathering, diners found plenty of options, including fried chicken, broccoli casserole, collard greens, lima beans, potato salad, Swedish meatballs, fresh veggies and other foods. They could wash it down with iced tea and lemonade, and top it off with a piece of cake or other desserts.

Sonya Salter was busy in the food room, arranging items as they came in. Fried chicken was in one spot, salads in another, desserts and so on.

She’s not from Lutz, but came to help both last year and this year because she’s Fernandez’s friend. She said she thinks its great that people get together to share their memories.

Bodde O’ Steen, who was at the gathering, too, said he’s lived in Lutz since 1937.

“I’ve seen a lot of changes. When I got here, there weren’t many people here,” he said, guessing there were about 300 people living in the general vicinity.

People cared about each other, O’ Steen said.

“If you needed help, everybody helped out everybody,” O’ Steen said.

Joe Strickland, Margie Strickland, Annie Fernandez and Bodde O’ Steen pose together at the annual gathering for the descendants of Lutz and Land O’ Lakes pioneers.
Joe Strickland, Margie Strickland, Annie Fernandez and Bodde O’ Steen pose together at the annual gathering for the descendants of Lutz and Land O’ Lakes pioneers.

The area has changed enormously over time, he added. “Everything was orange groves and truck farming.”

The Dennison name is widely known in Lutz, with some of the Dennisons spelling the name with two Ns in the middle, while others use just one.

Regardless of the spelling, the family has strong ties to the area.

The Dennisons came to Lutz shortly after the Coopers, who arrived in Lutz in 1832, said Jim Dennison, a family historian.

“Allen Scott Denison drove the stage coach from Fort Brook, which is Tampa to Fort King, which is now Ocala. That was the Concord-Apopka Stagecoach Company.

“They carried the U.S. Mail. And he lived off County Line Road,” he said.

Jim Dennison’s family lived near the intersection of State Road 54 and Livingston Road.

“Where the Raceway’s gas station canopy is — that’s where our house stood,” said Jim Dennison, who moved away from the area for 22 years but came back when his parents needed him.

He’s been attending the descendants’ gatherings since around 1982.

“My dad (Milford Dennison) used to like to come out, and I would bring him,” Jim Dennison said.

He keeps coming because he enjoys the event.

“This is my family — my family and childhood friends,” Jim Dennison said. “Old-timers like to get together and tell stories on one another.”

“A lot of people just like to come in and chat, and have a little refreshment. We have a good time,” Fernandez said.

Published October 14, 2015