James Luthy Obituary

Jim was a meticulous hard working fellow. Jim and I spent good times on the Nunatak and hiking the trails around Juneau.

Jim had a deep passion for history and old things. He kept the Nunatak afloat. A Korean war vintage vessel. He maintained it in mint condition.

Jim enjoyed a beer or a scotch and that was a weekly event during winter. Usually at the Hangar downtown Juneau.

Jim was part of an unofficial club of T-Boat operators run by National Fish and Wildlife, National Park Service and the Alaska Department of Public Safety.

Decades of great memories on and off the water.

He is missed by many.

Ken Bischoff

Oh Jimmie. The world will not be the same without you. After 55 years of friendship, I only hope that we will meet again. You were so important to me. Fondly, Margy

As any good older cousin should, Jim had a huge impact on my life. Like our grandfather, he was smart, inventive, careful, witty, a lover of nature, a great repairman and cook, and an outdoorsman par excellence. I will always be grateful for one of my best adventures paddling solo from Riggs Glacier to Gustavus one May. I had the Bay to myself and plenty of food but no kayaking experience and ample opportunity for mishap. That he trusted me and knew it would be character building was just part of who he was, an enabler for those keen about the wonder and workings of nature. My later collaborations with the Park Service were born of the examples the Luthies all set.

I will miss Jim, but he is deep within me and what could be better? Much love to Ken, Dale and family.

I started out as his doctor years ago and wound up as his friend and he wound up being my son´s mentor and favorite captain.

The best memories that I have from Glacier Bay research between 1984 and 1992, involve Captain Jim Luthy. His willingness to share his knowledge, curiosity, and the best of Glacier Bay with a new student from the Midwest was genuine. He dropped off tons of food, gear and scientific equipment for us at McBride Camp where we spent the summers. Before we disembarked, he scanned the hillsides with binoculars for "fur coats" that might be there to greet us. He also enjoyed the humor of preparing a bear roast for dinner on the Nunatak. I learned the meaning of the word "ship shape" from Jim. Everything had its place and there were rules to follow but he became a member of our research team when the Nunatak became the operational hub for our remote-controlled submersible. He held the ship on station as close to the glacier terminus as safe while we scanned and photographed the ice and the seafloor. He was usually calm, but he enjoyed the thrill of exploration. However, when we came back onboard after collecting cores and sediment traps in our small skiff, he would greet us with the saltwater hose, a stern look and a twinkle in his eye. He acknowledged that we were studying the finest glacimarine mud but it was not to be tracked on the deck. His impact on the scientists and science in Glacier Bay continues to this day.

He will always be the best Captain I ever worked for. My days on the Nunatak working with Jim are treasured memories.

I met Capt. Jim back in 96'-97' when he gave me my very first job on the water. Unknowingly but wonderfully he and I fit so well together while we worked on the Nunatak in Glacier Bay. Man what a great job that was! We could go any where, check out any thing and I got to follow scientist all over Glacier Bay. They studied the coolest stuff and as long as I got my work done on the boat he let me play all I wanted. I asked the scientists more questions than I thought they would answer but all they wanted to do was share, share, share. Because of Jim I got to learn about alluvial forests, glacier penetrating radar, animals, how the land was actually rising while the glaciers melted, theories about what was happening and going to happen in the park. A kid from Florida got to take countless skiff rides all over Glacier Bay National Park! How cool is that! Thanks again Captain. He and I spent the summers for a few years sharing mornings, meals, evenings and maybe a cocktail to 2 in some of the most beautiful places. One year he and I went to Dundas Bay to support the government in the removal of a squatter that had built a shelter in the park. It was hilarious! Like the police scene in Blues Brothers hilarious! Hut, hut, hut!! (if any one wants to heard more about it just ask) After that summer Jim helped me get a job with the Alaska Marine Highway System and eventually a spot at California Maritime Academy. Now as I am typing this and realize I will not get any more Christmas updates and pictures in a letter from Jim do I really understand how much I looked forward to the letter he sent me. How many of us got a letter every Christmas Season? A lot! It always made me feel good that a man I greatly respected remembered me and wanted to share his life with me. Capt. Jim helped me start a life. A life that took me from a 28 year old idiot to a man with a family. He helped me go to college where I met a beautiful girl and began a career on the water that I truly love. I share these memories and remember a man, a friend and what that man did for me. For no reason except he was a good man who embodied all the good things he learned in his life. I will fondly and continuously remember a man who helped me. Captain always said that on a ship everything has a place and that's where it goes. You were the best Captain I ever had and a friend I will miss. Rest well, fair seas and following winds.

We´re sad at having just learned the news about Captn Jim. Such great memories come flooding back of life on board the `Nunatak´. My research teams spent weeks on board over the years, working hard during the day and enjoying a good laugh around the table at night after having one of Jim´s hunger-satiating, home-cooked meals. I say this most sincerely, that I would not have been able to complete my PhD nor my grad. students achieve so much, without Jim´s over-generous help and assistance (all with the approval of the NPS Super and Head Naturalist (Greg Steveler) approving time on board, of course).

There are many recollections I could recount, but here´s just one. One season when Jim was dropping us off at our camp-site near McBride Glacier in Muir Inlet, we motored to the site, stopped offshore and started off-loading our gear onto skiffs to ferry it onto the beach. When we arrive onshore, we found a "Powell´s Realty" sign staked into the sand on the beach! Apparently, there was a realtor in Juneau named Powell and Jim had managed to get a hold of one of their signs and got it "up-bay" before he was dropping us off! That joke lasted for many years of re-telling...

Jim also used his Alaska resident status to act as celebrant at my wife Diane and I´s wedding, which allowed me to get married in one of my favorite places in the world. After we left Bartlett Cove, we took a little time in the Strawberry Islands to hold a ceremony onboard the `Nunatak´ at the end of our field season in 1992. We then continued on our way back to Juneau with our gear. I´ve provided a photo of the occasion with Jim. The other image I share is one I´ve just taken of a T-shirt Jim had made of the `Nunatak´ and provided as a gift that I still have as a keepsake. Jim lives on in fond memories.

The Bartlett Cove Campground that Jim (and Maggie) cared for in the 1970s was a showpiece for the National Park Service. The warming hut that Jim (and Jim Gage, I think) built, warmed wet campers for generations.

Jim Luthy called a square dance for my wedding years ago at the Gustavus Inn long driveway that was opened to the whole town, small at that time. What a fine gentleman he was!

Jim Luthy was an old-school ranger at heart. Not one to suffer fools in the bureaucracy. Honest, decent, meticulous, definitely the guy you would trust with your boat. And a gentleman dance caller too, with a sparkle in his eye to go with his bolo tie.

The photo is of Jim in 1983 on the bow of the Nunatak, up-bay, helping to show new naturalists the ropes. Jim in a button-down collar shirt and everyone else in rain gear and wool.

Our fondest memories of Jim Luthy come from the time before he ever became Nunatak deck hand and then the Skipper!
He was the super fastidious campground ranger and our reliable Serac skipper transporting us to our cruise ship work days.
Also I can still hear his lovely voice as he taught many of us our first square dances. I see him now with his western swing outfits including string ties and the sound his mellow singing of the dance calls!
Our potlucks were always enhanced by his calling.
Fond memories.

During the one trip I took on the Nunatak, I commented on how minimal and antiquated the navigation gear was. Jim responded that boat operators needed to spend more time looking out the window rather than at electronics. He was absolutely right. Photo taken aboard Nunatak in Glacier Bay in August 1992. Left to right: Jim Luthy, Bruce Paige, Dave Bohn, Bob Howe, Jim Mackovjak

I knew Capt. Jim Luthy of the Nunatak while conducting research in the backcountry of Glacier Bay in 1989-90 (part of Dave Mickelson's University of Wisconsin team). He ran a clean ship, and his word was gold. If he said he would be there on a certain date, he would be there unless some sort of emergency occurred. This was CRITICAL when conducting backcountry research. When Erik Silvola and I came aboard the Nunatak after our first summer, he put a big tub of soapy water on deck and told us to bathe. Could we have been that stinky? I suspect so! Jim also delivered Tillamook ice cream to us in Wachusett Inlet in 1990 during a routine food drop -- a fond memory! I considered Jim a friend, and we exchanged Christmas cards every year until he died -- I always looked forward to his handmade cards. Glacier Bay National Park was fortunate to have Jim Luthy on its team for twenty years. My condolences to his family. Kent Syverson, UW-Eau Claire Geology

Photo is aboard the Nunatak in August 1992 in Glacier Bay. Left to right: Jim Luthy, Bruce Paige, Dave Bohn, Bob Howe, Jim Mackovjak.

Jim Luthy, captain of the Nunatak for 20 years, was a legend in Glacier Bay, starting around 1980(?). He was the consummate skipper, babying that vessel like a fond parent. The boat was always immaculate, to the point where all passengers removed shoes (but never socks!) upon boarding. He was a master cook, and I my favorite memories are of roast turkey with all the trimmings. One knew when one had been "accepted" by Jim as a shipmate when he allowed you to wash the dishes! For all those years Jim and the Nunatak provided vital support to Glacier Bay researchers (from all over the world) as a mobile floating bunkhouse and laboratory, taking us to remote locations in all weathers and seasons. There were definitely rules (do NOT track your muddy Xtratufs on Jim's pristine deck!), but they were generally good rules, and a small price to pay for safe, competent, and comfortable transport. Jim Luthy left an indelible mark on Glacier Bay and its research community and will forever be associated with the "glory days" of scientific research during the last quarter of the 20th century. He was a fine man.

I first knew Jim in 1976 and he was deckhand and skipper of the Nunatak in Glacier Bay for many years (20 I think) and established field camps in 2 remote areas Goose Cove and Stonefly Creek for about 8 years with the Nunatak. I could not fail to remember those gin and tonics made with glacier ice before a meal and the game of PIT we used to play. I know he was going to retire when he threw the bell associated with PIT over the side in Berg Bay.

My sympathy. Jim was the our head photographer when I worked on the yearbook (Chinook). We exchanged Christmas cards for years, but never saw each other again after graduation. He was a special guy.

My sympathies to Ken and Dale. Mary Mulcrone

Sorry to hear of his passing. He was a very pleasant guy and made the best chocolate covered hazelnuts I´ve ever had