Night fuel dispatcher, 74, prefers ‘to be involved’

BANGOR – If you’ve run out of heating fuel after business hours or on a holiday, chances are good you’ve spoken with Arthur Lutton.

The 74-year-old Bangor resident is one of the night dispatchers employed at Webber Energy Fuels’ corporate headquarters on Main Street.

Outside of regular operating hours, Lutton fields calls from homeowners and gasoline station owners who have run out of fuel or need emergency repair services.

Lutton officially retired in 1989, before he was 65, because of a health concern that since has been resolved. While he took his first part-time job because it provided him the extra cash he needed for travel, he said he continues to work for more practical purposes.

“For two reasons, the money – it costs more to live than my retirement income – and I like to be involved,” said Lutton.

Lutton observed that more and more of his peers are returning to the work force. As he sees it, however, working beyond traditional retirement age often is about more than just the money. In some instances, leaving the work force also can mean a loss of identity.

“People define themselves in this culture by what they do,” he said. “One’s profession tells a lot about a person.”

Webber first hired Lutton as a part-time employee. During the summer, he typically worked about 26 hours a week. In winter, when demand for fuel peaks, he averaged more than 30 hours a week. He recently was offered – and accepted – a full-time position.

“I feel blessed,” he said, adding that he first learned of the job vacancy at Webber through a friend from church.

Lutton’s latest position is the most recent in a series that runs the gamut from clergyman to salesman.

“I’ve basically had a series of 10-year careers,” said Lutton, whose interests include church, choir and volunteer work in such areas as literacy.

Born and raised in metropolitan New York, Lutton worked as a teacher and assistant principal in Massachusetts.

Lutton next enrolled in a seminary and was ordained a United Church of Christ minister with parishes in Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts and New Jersey, as well as a three-year stint as chaplain at Hebron Academy, a preparatory school in the Lewiston-Auburn area.

His next career was with Scholastic Inc., the world’s largest educational publishing house. He worked for the company until its textbook division folded, putting Lutton and 374 of his colleagues out of work.

“I was 50 years old at that point,” Lutton said. Far from ready to throw in the towel, Lutton went back to school in computer science and in 1980 landed a job with an Alabama-based company that sold software to auto dealerships. His sales territory stretched from Maine to New Jersey to Ohio.

In the late 1980s, while still working for the software vendor, Lutton moved to Maine for a second time.

“I had lived there for three years [while chaplain at Hebron] and had a camp at First Roach Pond in Piscataquis County, northwest of Greenville,” he said.

He first moved to Shapleigh, just north of Sanford. More recently, he relocated to Bangor because the community appealed to him and his wife, Judi.

The Bangor Daily News is profiling people age 70 and older who choose to remain in the work force. We welcome suggestions for people to profile. Contact us at 990-8138 or e-mail bdnnews@bangordailynews.net.