Community accompanies Logan Luft back to Charles City

Press staff report

The body of a teenage Charles City boy whose tragic death and whose spirit in life have grabbed the attention of the state was returned to his hometown Saturday evening.

A caravan of cars accompanied the hearse carrying Logan Luft’s remains to Hauser Funeral Home in Charles City, where there was a flag-raising ceremony with the organ donor flag.

There was a large gathering of people at the funeral home as well as at the Northeast Iowa Regional Airport.

Logan’s parents are Lennie and Wendy Luft, and Lennie is a longtime Charles City police officer.

“We were anxiously anticipating having Logan come home,” said Wendy Luft Saturday evening. “When the Police Department and the Sheriff’s Department said that we wouldn’t have to worry because he’d be in their hands, it made us feel better.”

From there the idea spread and more people asked to join the caravan, she said.

More than 200 people were involved in the caravan that followed the hearse from the airport to Clark Street and then down Main Street.

“We are so overwhelmed by the support and just grateful,” Wendy Luft said. “I’ve lived and served in my community my entire life and Lennie’s been a resident here now for 20 years and in so many different capacities we have never seen such an outpouring of support as we have from our home town.”

Firefighters and volunteers from around the community helped direct traffic and riders of the caravan at the Charles City Airport.

A full moon lit the scene of vehicles as they traveled to and through Charles City.

At Hauser Funeral Home a large emotional group gathered outside, made up of students and communities members.

Logan was involved in an ATV accident the evening of July 4. The family announced Wednesday evening that he had been declared clinically brain dead, but his body was being kept alive so that his organs could be donated.

Wendy announced on her Facebook page Friday that Logan’s organs helped save the lives of five people that day.

“Logan Luft gifted his heart to a 7-year-old girl, his liver to a 15-year-old girl, a kidney to a 3-year-old girl, a kidney to a 39-year-old man, and a kidney and pancreas to a 52-year-old female,” the Facebook entry said.

“We will learn the additional recipients as they come in.”

His parents said Logan had made sure to have the organ donor box checked on his driver’s license.

Logan would have been a freshman at Charles City High School this fall, and even at the young age of 15 he was already an accomplished athlete, wrestling and running cross-country at the state level and even competing in national wrestling events.

The wrestling community especially has reached out with love and support for the Luft family, as they and Logan were well known to them.

For example, Immortal Athletics Wrestling Club in Waverly announced that its competition gear will include the initials LL for Logan Luft. In addition, the club will donate all the proceeds from a wrestling camp that had previously been scheduled Monday in Cedar Falls to the Luft family.

Various sports teams have adopted the hashtag #LuftTuff in Logan’s memory.

The Waterloo Courier reported that Wendy Luft said New Hampton two-time state champion Michael Millage, who was teammates with Luft at the Immortal Athletics Wrestling Club, told her he wants to donate his two state championship medals to the family to be placed in Logan’s casket and be buried with him.

“Everybody loves their son, everybody loves their kids and thinks that they are amazing,” Wendy Luft said. “But when an entire community tells you how amazing your kid is, it is so humbling. I don’t even have words for it.”

The funeral service for Logan will take place at 2 p.m. Wednesday, July 12, at the Charles City Middle School, with Pastor Robert Williams from The Bridge Church in Charles City officiating. Burial will follow at Riverside Cemetery in Charles City.

A visitation will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesday at the Charles City Middle School.

Charles City teen fatally injured in ATV accident