LOETSCHER, John E., 89, of Plant City, passed away peacefully at home Monday, September 19, 2005. Mr. Loetscher was born February 8, 1916, in Houston, Ark., and married Viola Mae Hon Loetscher in May 1940, 65 years ago, in Poplar Bluff, Mo. He moved to Florida in the late 30s by riding the rails, living in hobo camps and working in farm fields for 10 cents an hour. After arriving in Plant City he was a share cropper on South Highway 39, and returned to Missouri for his wife and son. In 1944, he moved them to Plant City, renting two box cars to transport household goods and four mules to Florida. Then he worked for Powell's Buick and farmed. He opened a business, Loetscher's Body Shop in 1947 on Highway 574 and donated several rebuilt squad cars to the police department and early emergency equipment to Plant City for accident sites, and operated a wrecker service, serving Plant City and surrounding areas for more than 40 years. Mr. Loetscher loved to restore antique cars, especially Ford Edse ls and T-Birds. He was a member of Lebanon Baptist Church and later became a member of Northside Baptist Church, serving as church deacon for both churches. In the late 1940s and 1950s, he assisted in a fund raising for the construction of a newly proposed community hospital on the corner of Alexander Street and Highway 574 (Martin Luther King Boulevard), now known as South Florida Baptist Hospital. He assisted in clearing the land and the use of heavy machinery to remove lumber from the site. He was predeceased by his son, Charles Loetscher. Survivors include his wife of 65 years, Viola Mae "Hon" Loetscher; children, Alpha John Loetscher of Morganton, Ga., Larry Loetscher Sr. of Lithia, Fla., and Diane Findley of Seffner, Fla.; eight grandchildren; 17 great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild and one expected great-great-grandchild; one brother, Bernard Loetscher of Mineral Bluff, Ga.; and two sisters, Ida Marie Black and Josie Rodgers of North California. The family will receive frie nds 6-8 p.m. Thursday, September 22, 2005, and funeral services will be 10 a.m. Friday, at Wells Memorial Chapel, with the Rev. Wayne Roberts officiating. Interment will follow at Beulah Baptist Church Cemetery in Lithia . Wells Memorial Funeral Home Lacey McClellan & Staff (813) 752-1111.

Published in TBO.com on September 22, 2005