Kenneth A. Luttermoser, 1918-2006
Every summer when I was growing up, my parents packed our minivan and drove me and my brother eight hours to visit our grandparents on Lake Erie for a few weeks. I remember my grandfather, Kenneth “Kenny” Luttermoser, as a serious, intelligent, kind-hearted man, who pursued excellence in every area of his life. My grandmother, Shirley Laszlo Luttermoser, was his affectionate and witty wife for 68 years until my grandfather died in 2006.
My grandmother was a young child at the height of the great depression, living in extreme poverty with very little to eat. I like brown bananas because I grew up eating them at their house (she wouldn’t throw away food, and viewed expiration dates as mere suggestions). When we visited, my dad would wake up in the middle of the night to remove any rotten or moldy food from their refrigerator. Even in her final years at an assisted living facility, my grandmother would hide chocolate in her nightstand for a “rainy day.” On the weekends during our summer stays, we’d have breakfast at a local diner, Michael’s. Before we would leave, my grandfather would set out six small glasses of orange juice, one for each of us. He would say, “I won’t be paying for any expensive orange juice at the restaurant, so if you want some, you better drink it here!” My grandparents lived a comfortable, middle-class lifestyle, with the means to live far more extravagantly. My grandmother in particular never escaped the scarcity mindset from her childhood, and in many ways, it influenced my grandfather, my dad, and the generations that followed.
Beyond what some may refer to as “cheap,” my grandfather was intelligent. The quiet kind. The “tinkering in the basement” kind. The kind that didn’t need to tell you how smart he was, because everyone just knew. He and my uncle Don both had their master’s degrees and PhDs in electrical engineering. My father’s undergraduate degree is in mechanical engineering and his master’s degree is in electrical engineering. He decided to get his PhD in math, then changed his mind and went to medical school, not wanting to be an engineer after all. (I like knowing that my love of math, numbers, and analysis has been passed down since at least the 1800s.) He also loved to be on the water. The logo for Beckham Financial, created by my brother, is an homage to my grandfather. He is pictured above sailing along Lake Erie, always “hoping for fair winds and following seas.”
After college and serving in the US Navy, my grandfather worked at a large electric company in Ohio, eventually buying out the owners, and working there until his retirement. Unfortunately, shortly after his retirement, my beloved Grandpa Kenny was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. His cognitive decline was slow and long and sad, but like many paradoxes we must hold in life, there were beautiful parts as well. I saw what it looked like to honor marriage vows, witnessed the heart of servanthood, and learned the importance of gratitude for life’s good parts.
The end comes for all of us, and I don’t want to look back on my career wishing I had done something different or regret not pursuing a dream. I dedicate the founding of this firm, Beckham Financial, to my grandfather. I’ll never be as frugal or smart as my grandfather, but in his honor, may all the work that is done, be done with excellence.
