I am not dead yet, as I create this page. But I wrote my own obituary in July 2024, after reading the boring detail of those obituaries apparently written by staff at the local funeral homes. These do not emphasize the aspects of my life that I find important.
So, here is my version:
James Ludden was born in San Francisco in 1939, where his parents, Ruth A Frary and Jerome A Ludden, were completing their medical residencies. They soon moved to Watsonville, California, where they lived in the nurses’ quarters behind the (former) first hospital, where the doctors had their office. Jim attended public schools until 1957. He graduated from Pomona College in 1961 and received degrees in chemistry in 1966 and forest economics in 1977 from University of Washington. (Jim never worked directly in chemistry, forestry, or economics.)
Jim Ludden is fundamentally a scientist and engineer — first recognized at age three when he disassembled and “fixed” broken equipment. He continually asks “why?” and must have driven his mother nuts with these questions. As a teen he built a ‘hot rod’ car and a stereo tape recorder. He was always designing or making something, including religious vestments, pipe organs, databases, websites, electrical systems, ….
In his later years he earned money in areas with no formal training, like management consulting, computer system analysis, and programming. He was passionate about user experience, having used his first computer in 1960. After 1983 he earned most of his living from computer work in the Seattle area.
Jim enjoyed the outdoors most of his life. He grew up on the beach of Monterey Bay, California, led some backpacking trips in the Sierra Nevada and guided hikes in New Hampshire. Nature study provided a welcome break on strenuous hikes. When hiking became difficult he supported the Native Plant Society of New Mexico — again largely through nerdy activities, but his garden in Taos is structured around native plants.
To escape from graduate study with poisonous explosives, Jim joined the Peace Corps in 1963 and taught math and science in Nigeria. He took his 125cc motorcycle on a 4,000 mile journey through central Africa on school break. Returning to Seattle he was offered a MS degree in chemistry if he would enroll — which he did— in German short stories while building pipe organs.
Another constant was music. He sang in choir from seventh grade — except in the Peace Corps, when there was no choir within 100 miles. He ended up on on the board of directors of Taos Community Chorus, mostly because of his willingness to maintain their web site. Choir was a form of community, and his religious experience was singing a set of short Hindemith songs with Pomona College glee clubs.
Community formed a backbone of Jim’s life. He first explored intentional community in 1967 with a visit to Twin Oaks, when he learned that listening is a huge part of community. He married a community organizer — Carol (née Parnell) who became a priest and developed community in Seattle. After Carol died he designed and built a house in Valverde Commons in 2015, advertised as “a sustainable adult community in Taos” until the COVID pandemic disrupted community spirit.
While singing in the choir at St James church in Taos, he met Lana Katharine Peterson Green and married her in 2021 and visited her childhood summer cabin in Lake Nebagamon in 2022.
Caring for the elderly culminated in formation of Taos Elders and Neighbors Together (TENT) together with a team of nonprofit directors, volunteers, and helpers. When he became too feeble to contribute to society he stopped eating, leaving his savings to educate youth in Central America. Jim is survived [probably] by his sister, Bette Ludden, and his wife, Lana K Green.
Let us all try to leave this world better than we found it.