LORENZ, George W. "Porky" 1922-2007
LORENZ, RANDALL
Posted By: S. Bell
Date: 5/5/2013 at 23:53:50
[Waterloo Courier, Thursday, September 13, 2007]
WATERLOO - George "Porky" Lorenz, who operated a succession of restaurants here for more than two decades and established the current Red Carpet golf course, died Monday in Arizona, where he had lived many years.
He was 85.
While he has lived outside the Cedar Valley for the better part of two decades, he is still well known here and many longtime residents still refer to the golf course and adjacent banquet facility simply as "Porky's."
Current Red Carpet operator Ed Dolan, who bought the golf course from Lorenz, recalled the entrepreneur as an ebullient, people person, in keeping with his profession.
"I had a good relationship with Porky. He was a straight-up guy with me," Dolan said. "He made contact well with the public. And he was a great restaurant operator. He knew what he was doing.
"He was a typical old restaurateur, a glad-handing, patting-you-on-the-back kind of guy," Dolan recalled with a chuckle.
In one of his major entrepreneurial moves, in 1970 Lorenz bought the former Sunnyside Country Club property at 1409 Newell St. in east Waterloo to create the Red Carpet when Sunnyside relocated to its present site in southwest Waterloo. Many longtime residents still refer to the establishment simply as "Porky's."
In the 1950s and '60s, Lorenz also operated Porky's Ranch House restaurant, later known as Porky's Red Carpet, on what is now University Avenue. He also operated Porky's White Hall restaurant in the Clayton House hotel on West Mullan Avenue, now the Grand Hotel. In the 1980s he also served as manager of Conway Inne hotel downtown, now Quality Inn & Suites, and also operated establishments in Arizona, in the Phoenix area.
In the 1960s, Lorenz also served as president of the Iowa Beverage Association.
Services for Lorenz are pending in Phoenix, according to family.
Contact Pat Kinney at (319) 291-1484
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[Waterloo Courier, Sunday, September 16, 2007]
George W. "Porky" Lorenz Jr., 85, of Tempe, Ariz., died Monday, Sept. 10, 2007.
He was born May 31, 1922, near Lincoln, Iowa, where his parents, George and Anna Lorenz, farmed with his four brothers. When he was 9 years old his family moved to Lincoln where they operated a restaurant. This began George's lifelong career of owning and operating restaurants.
He graduated from Gladbrook High School in 1940, then worked at McDonnell Douglas in California. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and on Nov. 21, 1945, married Dotta Jean Randall at the First Presbyterian Church in Waterloo.
He operated Porky and Pete's Lunch Counter, The Hummels Smoke Shop and a Tastee Freeze. He also owned and opearted The Pink Elephant Drive-In, Porky's Ranch House and Porky's Red Carpet, all in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls area. In the late 1960s he purchased the old Sunnyside Country Club and established Porky's Red Carpet Club, where he ran both a restaurant and a golfing facility. He was president of the Iowa Restaurant Association in 1967-68.
In 1943 he joined the Masons Olivet Lodge No. 436 in Gladbrook. He remained active in the Masons, Shriners and Jesters for more than 50 years. He enjoyed entertaining local parade-goers with his precision motorcycle riding with other Shriners. He also enjoyed his Elks membership for many years.
In 1977 he moved to Phoenix, where he owned and operated Porky's Ship of Fools, Porky's Dobson's Ranch and Porky's of Iowa. He also did some restaurant consulting in the mid 1980s. During his retirement in Phoenix where he continued to be an avid golfer.
Survivors include his wife of Tempe; a son, George (Patty) Lorenz, and their three children, of Kingwood, Texas; a daughter, Tamara Lorenz of Ames; his sister-in-law, Ardys Lorenz of Grundy Center; nieces and nephews, Mica Lorenz (Mike Knapp) of Waterloo, Randy (Lynet) Lorenz of Hudson, Dan (Chris) Lorenz of Cedar Falls, John (Sherry) Lorenz of Lincoln, Neb., Annette (Jim) Wilson of Waterloo and Rodney (Dawn) Lorenz of Traer.
He was preceded in death by four brothers, Woodrow, Lester, Raymond and Elmer; and his parents.
Services are 10:30 a.m. Monday in Phoenix.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the family.
Black Hawk Obituaries maintained by Karen De Groote.
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