November 6, 1931 - April 15, 2025

On Tuesday, April 15, Jesus fulfilled his promise to Clara Lois Ludden. Having prepared a place for her, He came and took her to be with Him. Clara, better known as Lois, had been expecting Him. To some of us she made known her disappointment that He seemed to be taking so long. She is not disappointed anymore.

Per Lois’s request, no funeral service is planned. She further requested that her obituary be as short as possible. It is probable that she would have been satisfied with two sentences. Lois loved Jesus. Lois died. What follows would undoubtedly be judged by Lois as too long, but it catches the highlights of her 93 plus years on this earth.

Lois Ludden was born Clara Lois Fansler at the Schofield Barracks Station Hospital in Honolulu on the island of Oahu in what was then the U.S. territory of Hawaii on November 6, 1931. Her parents, Eunice Justine (Bush) Fansler of Kentucky and her husband, Paul Newton Fansler of West Virginia, a career soldier in the U.S. Army, moved a lot. They left Hawaii for Fort Benning, Georgia when Lois was 3 years old, Fort Bragg, North Carolina when she was 7, Hinesville, Georgia when she was 11, and Waycross, Georgia when she was 16.

Lois graduated from Waycross Senior High School in Waycross, Georgia on May 31, 1949. A year later, on June 2, 1950, she received a certificate for a “Course of Studies in Bookkeeping, Business Law, Filing, Shorthand, and Typewriting” from Waycross Vocational School. On the recommendation of her instructors she was hired as a civilian by the army to work at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. She worked there until 1960 when she transferred to a different civilian position with the air force at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

On April 16, 1960, Lois married Robert Phillip Ludden, an air force buddy of her older brother, at Dover Air Force Base, in Delaware. On May 16, 1963 the couple had their first and only child, Ronald Leslie Ludden. The family lived in Red,Oak Iowa, and Grand Island, Nebraska before coming to Central City in February of 1967. Lois has made Central City her home for the last 57 years. Robert died on April 2, 1970 leaving Lois and their nearly seven year old boy, Ronald on their own. Lois worked at Nebraska Christian Schools for about 28 years, before retiring in 2002.

She filled her time by participating in the activities of her church, Heartland Evangelical Free Church, helping out at Mission Heart and the Hospital Auxiliary’s Thrift Store, and singing with the Lone Tree Singers.

After a fall in July of 2024, Lois spent the last 9 months of her life in the capable care of the staff at Litzenberg Memorial Long Term Care and with the support of the staff at St. Croix Hospice. It was there on Tuesday, April 15, 2025 that she took her last breath with her friends, Sara Musgrave and Janice Kirby by her side.

Lois was preceded in death by her husband, Robert Philip Ludden; her parents, Paul Newton and Eunice Justine Fansler; her older brother, Hershel Elmore Fansler. She is survived by her younger brother, Franklin Delano Fansler; by her son, Ronald Leslie Ludden; her daughterinlaw, Candace Dawn Ludden; and by three grandsons.