AC_1965_Web

97 AN T I OC H CO L L E G E C L A S S O F 19 6 5 5 0 t h A N N I V E R S A R Y B O O K A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z L U T Z LUTZ CHRIS & SALLY Sally in France. Chris in France. THEN AND NOW 4 Chris: B.A. History 4 Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, Comparative Tropical History 4 Sally: B.A. Studio Art M.A., Liberal Studies, Dartmouth College FAMI LY 4 Husband and wife! 4 Son, Ian 4 Daughter, Sarah 4 Four grandchildren ADDRESS 75 Richdale Ave. Cambridge, MA 02140 CONTACT chris.lutz@me.com ssilutz@mac.com C H R I S A N D I were married in 1962, three years before the 1965 graduation graced by the presence of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. During the summer that followed, we trav- eled to Spain where we would study Spanish and live with a family in Madrid for one year. It was an event- ful time for many reasons. Franco was still in power and the Vietnam War still raged. It was our first expe- rience of living under a repressive regime and of feeling apologetic for our own country’s foreign policy. During that same year Chris applied and was accepted into the comparative tropical history grad- uate program at the University of Wisconsin. We went to Madison in the fall of 1966. In 1967 our daugh- ter, Sarah, was born.As Chris contin- ued with his masters and doctoral studies focused primarily on Latin America, I became involved with the Madison Potters’ Guild. In 1970,we traveled toGuatemala where Chris would begin his doc- toral research at the Guatemalan National Archive. We arrived dur- ing a national state of siege.A heavy military presence was evident ev- erywhere one looked, at shopping centers, banks and other public buildings, and a 6 p.m. curfew had been declared, to be rescinded only one week before our son was born in August 1971. Four months later we traveled to Spain again where Chris continued his research in the Archivo General de las Indias in Seville. Months later we returned to Madison. After some years Chris was re- cruited to teach Latin American History at Antioch. While it was a difficult time for the institution, we enjoyed our year there, becoming close to Susan and Frank Shea, re- uniting with FrankWong and getting to know Hannah Goldberg and her daughter, Lisa.We spent most of the decade of the ’70s moving between Madison, Vermont, Yellow Springs and Guatemala. In 1976, after committing our- selves to living in Guatemala, we bought and renovated a property in Antigua, the colonial capital of the country, but also the focus of Chris’ first publication with Oklahoma Press. From ’76 to ’81 we spent the school year in Guatemala and sum- mers in Vermont. In Vermont we were able to see my family as well as our old friend, Michael Weinberger and his wife, Ethel. Our two children, Sarah and Ian, experienced various forms of inter- esting if somewhat eccentric educa- tional systems.Their first Guatemalan school was established by a group of creative and desperate parents, housed in American Army surplus tents pitched on a vacant lot within Antigua. After its demise Sarah was tutored for a brief period using the famous or infamous Calvert Course curriculum. Eventually both children would travel to Guatemala City to at- tend the International Maya School. Meanwhile Chris cofounded an institution called CIRMA (Centro de Investigationes Regionales de Mesoamerica) with which he is still very much involved today. It was a creative, if unsettled, time for us as civil war raged both in Guatemala and next door in Salvador.The coun- try was once again becoming com- pletely militarized; one heard ru- mors of torture and disappearance by death squads. In 1980, Chris, himself, was taken away by the corrupt and dan- gerous secret police, accused of sell- ing documents out of the country from the National Archive.With the help of Guatemalan friends con- nected to the family of the Minister of Finance, we were able to have him released but it took months to have his name cleared. It eventually became evident that what had taken place was a simple, if terrifying, case of extortion. A year later, however, the situa- tion became more serious. We had apparently come to be thought of by