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COMMUNITY
The Reunion invitation
and other injuries were treated by the town doctor, who was really just a big-hearted nurse named Alice, owner of the town’s only soda fountain (and pharmacy). It was a time of root cellars where winter vegetables and house-canned goods were stored; of the Mentholatum® cure for the common cold; of big blocks of ice cut from the frozen Ten Sleep River and buried in sawdust for later use. “The ice lasted nearly all summer and was used by the drugstore, soda fountain, numerous saloons, and the citizens of Ten Sleep,” Lillian recalled. There was a little white church “just like the kind you see on a Hallmark card,” and a wonderful school with its own weekly paper, the Ten Sleep Pioneer. And the amazing Miss Nelson, who taught them reading, writing, arithmetic, agriculture, art, even dramatics. One year, she directed a full blown production of Madame Butterfly. “The play was a big success and we learned a lot about opera and a little about Japan at an early age,” said Lillian. But it was the five tough years following the onset of the Great Depression that were the hardest to describe. Ed Ludwick had supported his family as a talented, sought-after car mechanic but now, “No one could pay in cash so our meals were often whatever he received as payment: chickens and such, if he received anything,” said Lillian. As the Depression wore on, with no end in sight, Bessie recalled that her sister Maude had moved out West and was doing just fine. In the early 1920s, a dearth of employment opportunities drove Charles and Maude to follow the work to California, first to Oroville to pick fruit, and later to San Luis Obispo. Charles found work painting our courthouse and Maude became famous for the lemon meringue pies she sold to the Whistle Stop Café near the train station. Two more Joneses—Maude’s other sister Gladys Jones and her brother Roy Jones— had also made their way West. They worked, married, and raised their families in San Luis Obispo County. Two of their children would eventually become postmasters; one in San Luis and one in Los Osos. So Ed and Bessie made the decision that would alter the course of their lives forever.
eryone had to “earn his keep.” Eldest son Vern (who had stayed behind in Ten Sleep) soon joined his brothers and sisters in SLO and Lillian told of leaving Aunt Maude’s and finding their own home on Mill Street. The boys worked on ranches, in auto garages, and at the Golden State Creamery. The girls cleaned houses and ushered at the Obispo Theater. In 1937, another child, Beverly, was born to Ed and Bessie. With hard work, perseverance, and a generous The Jones family: Gladys Jones Verity, Roy Jones, helping of humor, Maude Jones Jorgeson, Bessie Jones Ludwick. the Ludwick children grew and prospered. They married and had families of their own—many of them Cal Poly grads who went on to become generous contributors to the growth of our community. They are teachers and preachers, doctors and lawyers, CEOs and soccer moms, artists and architects, ranchers and researchers, businessmen and board members—who have never forgotten their roots. One of the Ten Sleep sibs, Edward Jr. (he was not known as Junior; the designation here is to distinguish him from his father Ed) married a woman named Inga and had three children. The eldest of these is Art Ludwick, owner of a major American corporation and host for the family reunion that took place in March at the Santa Margarita Ranch. During the war, many a Ludwick recalls dancing the night away in the USO Building at the corner of Mill and Santa Rosa Streets. It was fitting that, 60 years later, a Ludwick would be the chief contributor to the refurbishing of that historic landmark. According to a press release dated November of 2003, “… the three children of Edward and Inga Ludwick with a leading gift from eldest son Arthur J. Ludwick and his wife, Sarah Ludwick, generously provided funding for the City of San Luis Obispo to remodel the City Recreation Center, formerly the USO Building. … The 12,000-square-foot building was renamed the Edward G. and Inga E. Ludwick Community Center.”
“Our family life changed completely upon arrival to California,” Lillian continued. Four of the five Ludwick children were now teenagers and ev-
15 of the 22 first cousins at the Family Reunion M A Y
2015
Journal PLUS
The Ludwicks that are Cal Poly Grads