Luther George Roland

Ojai Valley News June 28, 2002

Luther G. 'Lu' Roland

Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Luther G. "Lu" Roland, 76,died Saturday, June 22, 2002, near his home of 12 years in Roseburg, Ore., after a lengthy illness. He had been a longtime Ojai resident and business owner.

Born in Hummelstown, Pa., in 1925, he left the family farm for active duty as an aviation cadet for the U.S. Army a few months after his 18th birthday. Having served as an aerial gunner, bombardier, airborne radio operator and navigator, he was finally allowed to pursue his initial dream and entered pilot training in 1950. Serving as buck pilot, senior pilot and finally command pilot, Mr. Roland would go on to fly single- and multiple-engine propeller-driven planes as well as jet fighters and bombers, at one point holding more aeronautical rankings than any Air Force pilot.

In 1951, he inadvertently became the focal point of an international incident when malfunctioning on-board compasses and powerful Czechoslovakian radio transmitters caused he and a Norwegian trainee to land near Prague instead of British- and French-controlled West Germany. Held by the Czechs for four weeks, he was treated to a true Independence Day when he was released to his unit on July 4 after intervention by then-President Harry Truman and Secretary of State Dean Acheson. Coupled with the patrols he flew during the Allies' food drops over East Germany, this event would later leave him thankful that he lived long enough to see the Berlin Wall come down.

Upon completing a tour as a squadron commander at the Air Force's Columbus, Miss., Strategic Air Command base, Mr. Roland retired after 23 years of service and moved his family to Ojai in 1966. Acting on the advice of his two older sons, he went into business operating a downtown Ojai service station where a few years later he and his boys, as well as a host of Ojai Valley youths, would work until 1988.

An active Lions Club member and leader, Mr. Roland used his downtown business location as an "information center" for all matters pertaining to the Lions Club. He was Lion of the Year in 1975 and was instrumental in forming the Ojai Lioness Club in 1985.

In 1989, the morning after receiving Lionism's highest award, the Melvin Jones Fellowship, Mr. Roland and his wife, Ann, moved to Roseburg, where they both remained active in the Lions Club. While helping form Lions Clubs in Lemolo Lake in 1993, Cave Junction in 1996, and Medford in 1997, he was elected district governor in 1995, and was awarded the Helen Keller Benefactor Award in 2000. He helped shuttle donated corneal tissue to be used in transplants throughout the Pacific Northwest. He was a volunteer with the area RSVP, a van driver for the Veterans' Administration Hospital in Roseburg, and a volunteer gardener for Calvary Assembly of God Church. Mr. Roland also served as a docent at the local Wild Life Safari for 11 years, driving the park's miniature train, giving guided tours, and doing carpentry, landscaping or anything else he thought needed to be done, a dedication that would land his picture on postcards sold at the park.

He is survived by his wife, Ann Roland, of Roseburg; daughter and son-in-law Christine and Bob Lefebvre of Ventura; son and daughter-in-law Scott and Susan Roland of Ojai; son Bruce Roland of Ojai; sister Doris Winters of Hershey, Pa.; brothers Carlton and Charles of Lancaster, Pa., and North Carolina; two grandchildren; several nieces and nephews; and the families of stepsons Steven and Gilbert Phelps in Chandler, Ariz., and Columbia, Calif.

Mr. Roland was preceded in death by his sisten, Ellen, and brothers Arthur and Basil of Pennsylvania, former wife "Penny" and their youngest son Jeff of Ojai.

Services will be held in Roseburg, and the family has requested that, in lieu of flowers, memorial donations be made to either Calvary Assembly of God, P.O. Box 457, Roseburg, OR 97470, or the Oregon Lions' Sight and Hearing Foundation, 1410 S.W. Morrison, Suite 760, Portland, OR 97205.