RPS employee remembered for kindness

CORRECTION: This article incorrectly stated the number of years which Fluke had worked at Residential Programs and Services. He worked at RPS for 23 years. The IDS regrets the error.\nWith a smile and a warm greeting, John Fluke held the door for Collins Residence Manager Sara Ivey Lucas on many mornings at the Collins Center loading dock.\nOn Monday, his smile and greeting were noticeably absent.\n"It was pretty sad to come to work ... and not have him there to open the door for me," Ivey Lucas said. "This was something no one expected."\nFluke, described by acquaintances as a good-natured man willing to help anyone, died at Bloomington Hospital Friday, apparently of a stroke. He was 45. Fluke was found unconscious at Collins Friday evening.\nHe had worked for IU's Residential Programs and Services for 26 years.\nFluke, of Nashville, is survived by his wife, Karen Fluke, and two daughters, Amber and Amy.\nServices will be held at the Bond Mitchell Funeral Home in Nashville at 11 a.m. Wednesday. Calling is from 4-8 p.m. today at Bond Mitchell.\nFluke began working for RPS in 1978 -- when it was still called Halls of Residence -- as a food service worker. In 1984, Fluke began working with maintenance on a truck crew, then in 1989 he worked as an air-conditioner specialist. In 2000, Fluke became Collins Center's maintenance man, the first person responsible for residence halls maintenance issues -- everything from installing air conditioners in students' rooms to repairing tables in Edmonson Dining Hall.\n"He was really helpful to the students and the staff here," Ivey Lucas said. "He was wonderful. The nicest guy you'd ever meet.\n"John was well-loved and well-respected, and a lot of people are going to miss him here."\nKaren Fluke remembers a letter to her husband from a resident assistant in Collins thanking him for his eagerness to always lend a hand. He was proud of the compliment.\n"I don't know anybody who didn't like him when they met him or knew him," his wife said. "There will be someone in every dorm who knows him."\nFluke was also a loving husband and father to his two daughters.\nTerry Cummings, who works in Edmonson Dining Hall, met Fluke while both were working at McNutt Quad.\nDescribing Fluke as an "old country boy," Cummins said Fluke was an avid outdoorsman who loved his Nashville farm and enjoyed sharing tales of deer hunting. He loved horses and planned to ride a horse he broke, to keep it from getting wild again.\nCampus Editor Aaron Sharockman contributed to this story.