Elizabeth Lynn (Ludwig) Cline

Highlands, NC - Elizabeth Ludwig Cline passed away at 8:20 pm on Sunday, January 30, 2022 at the Fidelia Eckerd Living Center, after a lifelong battle with Multiple Sclerosis. Preceding her in death were her parents, Milton and Mary Ludwig, brother Peter, and sister Mary Christine. She is survived by her brother Jon Ludwig, sister Margaret Sandberg, husband Malcolm Cline, daughter Esther Niemasik, and son Thomas Cline.

Elizabeth Lynn Ludwig was born at Lake County Memorial Hospital on September 17, 1955. She lived on Barrington Ridge in Painesville, Ohio her entire childhood, graduating from Riverside High School in 1973. Elizabeth obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Business from Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff in 1978. She met her husband, Malcolm, in the summer of 1982, in the mountains of North Carolina. Malcolm and Elizabeth were married at a chapel on Lake Junaluska January 19, 1985, a day notable as being one of the coldest in memory, with wind chills reaching -60 degrees. The young couple moved to Durham where daughter Esther and son Thomas were born, in 1986 and 1989, respectively. The family moved next to Barnhart, MO in the summer of 1989. One final move, to the care center in Highlands, completed Elizabeth's life journey.

As a young woman, Elizabeth experienced many adventures. She went hiking in the Rockies alone, accompanied only by her beloved Golden Retriever, Bacchus. She spent Christmas in Rome with her family. A cycling tour of Europe with her mother took her to many countries of the continent. She met her husband white water rafting (he fell in!) on the Nantahala River. She even got to ride an elephant in Thailand!

A full life offers a lot of opportunities to reinvent oneself. Elizabeth was a restaurant manager, ground crew/flight agent at an airport, a baker of breads, a roofer, a real estate photographer, a bus driver, and a weaver, before becoming a full-time homemaker. She “studied” (they let her watch) the weaving of the Navaho women before moving to Waynesville, NC to learn modern methods of weaving on a loom at Haywood Technical College.

Elizabeth found great satisfaction as a mother. She read to both children, enjoyed playing with them, and made sure to help train them “in the way they should go.” At the same time she saw the value in letting them get dirty while playing and allowed them to run naked through the yard when they were younger. Visits to the zoo or museums or aquariums were common. Both children received many lessons in work ethic and Christian values from the life their mother led.

Elizabeth and Malcolm discussed jazz music on the first day they met. While they listened to and attended concerts in several musical genres, smooth jazz continued to be a lifelong favorite. Although she did not play an instrument or sing herself, she did greatly enjoy having husband Malcolm sing or play one of his many instruments for her, especially in a church setting.

Elizabeth spent a life in service to the church, beginning with becoming a Christian at the First Congregational Church of Painesville, Ohio. Wherever she moved, a church family was an integral part of her life. In addition to the Congregational beginning and an intensive spiritual workshop called Koininea, she became a member of Methodist or Baptist congregations at need. Elizabeth and Malcolm both enjoyed years of debating and exploring scripture together. Interestingly, the first scripture he heard her read is the passage in Proverbs 31 about the value of an excellent wife.

Elizabeth was formally diagnosed as having Multiple Sclerosis in 1990, after exhibiting several years of increasingly severe symptoms like dizziness, fatigue, and sensitivity to heat that started as early as age seven. Relapsing/Remitting MS quickly shifted to Primary Progressive and began a long slide into more and more debilitating outcomes. In spite of many efforts to ameliorate the effects of MS, it was necessary for Elizabeth to move into a full-time care facility in the mid 2000's, first in St. Louis, and finally in Highlands. Upon her arrival there, her loving presence became apparent to those at her facility and those at her church, the Community Bible Church of Highlands. Despite the insidious deterioration of her body she showed through her actions and loving spirit what we should all ascribe to be.

Memorial Services will be held at Community Bible Church of Highlands, NC on Saturday, February 26, 2022 at 1:00 pm.

In lieu of flowers, friends and family are requested to make donations to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society at http://nationalmssociety.org.

Arrangements entrusted to Robert Morgan Funeral and Cremation Service of Boiling Springs, NC. 

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