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His Life

Obituary - Lloyd Dwaine Ludlam

March 4, 2021
Lloyd Dwaine Ludlam, 86, died at home in Lakeway, Texas on February 15, 2021, following a four-year battle with lung cancer.

Lloyd was born September 4, 1934, in Greenwood County, Kansas, to Fred Cecil Ludlam and Irene May Porter. He was a 1952 graduate of Augusta High School in Augusta, Kansas. Lloyd served four years as an electronics technician in the United States Navy, including on the USS Helena during the Korean War. Among his Navy experiences was repairing President Eisenhower’s communication equipment in his state room while the president was conducting a meeting there. He also sang in a Navy a cappella choir which performed for President Eisenhower and Chiang Kai-shek. While serving as ship’s company on a reserve training ship, he watched Fidel Castro lead his guerillas down the mountains toward Havana at the beginning of the Cuban revolution.

Lloyd had a 34-year career as an IBM computer analyst. He was a manager on the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)/Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) program in Grand Forks, North Dakota and Madison, Wisconsin. He then defined the configuration and supported the installation of the first computers in NORAD’s Cheyenne Mountain complex in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Lloyd worked on NASA’s Gemini, Apollo, Space Shuttle, and Space Station programs at the Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, Cape Canaveral, Florida, and the Johnson Space Center in Texas. One of his fondest memories was receiving the NASA Manned Flight Awareness Award for his contribution to the Saturn Apollo program.

Lloyd excelled in many sports, including baseball, bowling, and golf, and was an avid amateur astronomer, gardener, and volunteer. He created and maintained websites for many non-profit organizations, sang in several church choirs, and taught Sunday school for forty years. He and wife Holly worked on many mission outreach projects, served on several mission trips and cut wooden parts for mobility carts for disabled persons. Lloyd was also a member of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Lloyd loved to sail. He served as Commodore of the Galveston Bay Cruising Association (GBCA) and was made an Admiral in the Texas Navy. Lloyd raced double-handed from Galveston, Texas to Bradenton, Florida, and raced twice from Galveston to Vera Cruz Mexico. He won the GBCA bay single-handed race four years in a row and was permanently awarded the perpetual trophy. Lloyd and wife Holly sailed and raced the Texas coast and the Caribbean for 20 years. They loved adventure travels. One of their favorite vacations was rafting down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.

Family left to cherish his memory are his wife of 49 years, Holly Hensley Ludlam; three sons, Allen, Keith and wife Pamela, and Michael; a daughter Dawn and husband Eric; six grandchildren, Kate and husband Erik, Julie and daughter Madison, Matthew, Julia, Amanda, and Brenna; nieces and their families, Miriam, Deborah, and Gloria; and nephew Patrick Douglass.

Lloyd will be cremated. At a later date, his ashes will be buried at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas. Memorials may be made to the Salvation Army or to the charity of your choice.