LUDWIG,
Dalton “Pat”
Passed away peacefully
with his wife at his side on Tuesday,
October 20, 2009 at Freeport Health Centre
of Grand River Hospital, at the age of 82.
Beloved husband of
Joan (nee Roedel) Ludwig for 37 years. Pat
is survived by his grandchildren Tammy
Ludwig (Brad) and Allan Ludwig (Tracy) and
two great-grandchildren and one nephew.
Predeceased by his son Shane (2006), his
parents Alexander and Irene (nee Alles)
Ludwig and his sister Dorothy Martin and
husband Francis.
Pat played piano
professionally since the age of 14 and was a
life member of the Central Ontario
Musicians' Association. He attended the
Oscar Peterson Advanced School of
Contemporary Music, was Music Director for
CKCO-TV for 20 years and taught piano
throughout his career.
Pat's family will
receive relatives and friends on Friday from
2-4 and 7-9 p.m. and on Saturday from
10-10:45 a.m. at the Henry Walser Funeral
Home, 507 Frederick St., Kitchener,
519-749-8467. A liturgy service for Pat will
take place in the chapel of the funeral home
on Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 11 a.m.
Cremation to follow. As expressions of
sympathy donations to the Alzheimer Society
of K-W or the charity of your choice would
be appreciated by the family (cards
available at the funeral home). A special
thank you to the nurses and staff on PT3 at
Freeport for their great care and support.
He
jazzed up local TV of Kitchener
: July 27, 1928 in Kitchener
: Oct. 20, 2009 of health complications
November 10, 2009
By Valerie Hill Record Staff
Pat Ludwig’s career as a jazz pianist began
with a simple piece of flat cardboard,
painted to resemble a piano keyboard.
At
a time when Catholic schools could not
afford the real thing, the flimsy props were
used to teach music, albeit soundless. How
boring for a naturally gifted boy and so,
Pat rebelled and wouldn’t even play his
piano at home. Alarmed, his parents
contacted a well-known piano teacher, a man
who already had a full slate of students
though he eventually agreed to at least meet
the boy and in that seminal moment as
teacher and boy played for each other,
something sparked.
“When Pat heard a professional play, he was
enthralled,” said his wife, Joan Ludwig.
Soon the student was outplaying the teacher
and he was advised to take classical
lessons. By age 14 Pat was playing in a
professional orchestra.
This was not something his parents had
expected. Perhaps everything was moving too
fast. “His mother was protective about Pat,”
said Joan. “But they (orchestra) assured
her, he’d be taken care of.”
As the years unfolded, Pat’s talents became
well known and he was never without work, as
a musician, piano teacher and, for 20 years,
the music director for CKCO playing on shows
such as Big Al and Romper Room.
Radio, television and theatre personality,
Neil Aitchison remembers his friend and
colleague with fondness. “When I think of
Pat, I always smile,” said Neil. “He was a
soft spoken, shy, quiet fellow but he had an
impish laugh and a mischievous sparkle in
his eyes.
“He made those locally produced television
programs come alive.”
Neil calls his friend a “master jazz
pianist” yet a reluctant star who avoided
the limelight. “He was just an unassuming,
lovely guy.”
Long time friend and jazz singer, Cathy
Menard, said Pat had a particular gift for
teaching. “People said they learned the joy
of music from Pat. He inspired people.”
Pat was also generous, helping Cathy land a
job at the television station before he
retired in 1981. He also hired her to sing
several nights a week with his Fritz-Patrick
Trio, a thrill for Cathy.
“These guys, everybody looked up to,” she
said. “Getting asked to sing with them was
an honour.”
Pat’s other claim to fame — though he never
boasted — was a close association with jazz
pianist Oscar Peterson after meeting the
great man at Peterson’s Advance School of
Contemporary Music. In the many social
get-togethers between Peterson and his wife
and Pat and Joan, there was a comfort level
and mutual admiration with neither man
caught up in any notion of fame.
Joan had no idea she’d be swinging with the
likes of Oscar when she met her sweet piano
player.
The couple met in a Stratford restaurant
where Pat was playing, just after he had
divorced from his first wife. Joan reflects
on the odds of that meeting. She had been a
quiet, painfully shy young American woman
living in Rochester, New York with her
parents and when her fiancé was drafted to
serve in the navy she happily stayed home
awaiting his return. It was a fateful visit
of her fiancé’s cousin from Kitchener that
changed Joan’s life.
The two young women became friends and Joan
was soon regularly visiting Ontario. It was
the cousin who took Joan to the Stratford
restaurant, introduced her to Pat. Joan’s
life was suddenly tipped upside down as she
fell madly in love with Pat who was a few
years her senior. Joan wrote her fiancé a
Dear John letter, quit her clerical job at
Kodak and left Rochester bound for Canada.
“My parents went into orbit,” she recalled.
It would take several months before Joan
could immigrate legally, get a job and gain
forgiveness from her parents, who soon grew
to adore Pat.
The couple married in 1970, honeymooning in
Toronto so they could take in one of Oscar’s
concerts. “I was shy, conservative, I was
afraid of everybody,” she admits. Suddenly,
she was the wife of a musician who happened
to be buddies with a Canadian legend.
Over the years their married life revolved
around music and though Joan played a bit
herself, she loved to be serenaded by her
funny, loving husband whose hands were never
far from a keyboard. It was an idyllic life,
until June 17, 2006, when Pat’s son Shane
was diagnosed with cancer the same day Pat
learned he had a cancerous tumour on his
spine. Shane died three months later.
“Pat held it in,” said Joan. “I think it was
the beginning of the end. A part of him died
when we lost Shane.”
Pat’s health deteriorated over the years,
first with cancer then Alzheimer’s and
during his last few weeks in hospital, Joan
stuck by his side. “I happily did it,” she
said. “For him, I’d do anything.”
reproduced
with permission from the Waterloo Regional
Record
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