Biography
Early life
Albert Laurence Luce was born on June 26, 1888, in La Grange, Illinois, a village in Cook County, Illinois. His parents were George P. Luce and Jennie Squire Luce.[3] His father managed a lumber yard in La Grange.[1] After completing high school in La Grange, Luce attended Northwestern University, studying science.[1]
Luce moved to El Centro, California in 1913 to become a distributor for Maxwell automobiles (a forerunner of Chrysler). Luce enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1917.[4] He fought in France in 1918, and was returned to the U.S. in 1919.[1] He purchased a Ford franchise in Fort Valley, Georgia;[1] which would become his home for the rest of his life. In 1920, he married Helen Mathews (April 10, 1890 – July 2, 1976),[5] a daughter of a local minister.[1]
1920s: First bus designs
As his business grew, Luce purchased a second Ford franchise in Perry, Georgia, which he named Houston County Motor Company. In 1925, the dealership received an order from a local cement company manufacturer for a Model TT fitted with a bus body to transport company workers. The wooden bus body, supplied from a North Carolina millyard, seemed to Luce not sufficiently durable for the rough Georgia roads; he was concerned the bus would have to be replaced before the owner finished paying for it.[1] To develop a stronger body, he and a blacksmith in his Perry dealership fabricated a steel body.[6]
1930s: Founding of Blue Bird
The Great Depression nearly halted car sales at Luce's outlets. In 1930–1931, sales fell over 95%; while only 7 buses were sold, they constituted the majority of sales for his operations.[1] Luce closed the Fort Valley dealership in late 1931 and sold the Houston County Motor Company in 1932, then started a company specializing in school bus bodies. First using rented facilities, in 1935 he built a 27,000 ft² factory in Fort Valley.
1940s
During World War II, Blue Bird existed as a military supplier, building bus and ambulance bodies for the armed forces.
In 1945, a fire that burned down the Blue Bird factory in Fort Valley nearly killed Luce, as he had become trapped trying to fight the fire with a fire extinguisher, but was rescued by a factory worker shortly before the factory exploded.[1] By mid-1946, a new, larger factory was built in Fort Valley, however, Luce nearly died from a heart attack at the factory shortly after its opening.[1]
Luce and his son George traveled to Europe in 1948. At the 1948 Paris Auto Salon they saw an all-new forward-control bus. Highly interested in its General Motors/Opel chassis, Luce unsuccessfully tried to secure a supply arrangement with GM. After buying the bus outright and importing it into the United States, the chassis was modified and developed for use with a school bus body, becoming the first Blue Bird All American.[1] In production since 1949, the All American is the longest-produced model of school bus in North America.
Later life
Luce retired from Blue Bird in 1950. During a trip to California in October 1962, Luce had a second heart attack, and he died from pneumonia in San Francisco. He was buried in Oaklawn Cemetery, Fort Valley, Georgia.