Margaret Lucille Ladd

Margaret Lucille Ladd HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Margaret Lucille Renalds Cooke Ladd, 93, of Huntington, passed away peacefully late Thursday May 12, 2005. Lucille was the widow of Allen Q. Ladd Sr.

She was born Margaret Lucille Renalds at Lyndhurst, Augusta County, Va., on Nov. 9, 1911. Her mother, H. Margaret Henkel Renalds, never recovered from her birth, leaving her father, William Marcellus Renalds, with five sons and infant Lucille. At three months of age she was adopted as the only child of Homer and Lena (Paulina) Kolbe Cooke.

Lucille spent her early years in Waynesboro, Va., where Homer and Lena Cooke operated the Augusta Restaurant. In 1919 her parents moved to Huntington and began Huntington Candy Co., a wholesale distributorship, which continued to 1980.

Lucille graduated from Huntington High School in 1929 and Marshall College in 1933. She became an art teacher in Charleston, then temporarily, at West Junior High School and later was the first art teacher at the newly opened Barboursville Junior High School. Her graduate study was at Ohio State University.

At the age of 19, Lucille learned she had been adopted and that she had a father, five older brothers, Godfrey, Frank, Ray, Melvin and Richard; and a younger sister, Pauline, living in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. She began a relationship with her siblings, their spouses and their children that continue.

On Nov. 1, 1941, she married Allen Q. Ladd, originally of Albemarle County, Va. Allen and Lucille had three children, Carolyn Kolbe Ladd Kennington of Dallas, Texas, Allen Q. Ladd Jr. and Hugh Cooke Ladd, both of Huntington.

Lucille had life-long interests in art, architecture, history, nature, pets, hiking, travel and community. She was a camp counselor, Cub Scout den mother, substitute teacher, landlady and passenger rail service advocate. As a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation she participated in several architecture study tours. As a member of the Art Institute of Chicago she traveled by train to Chicago (and on to Dallas) to view exhibits at the Institute.

Lucille is survived by her three children, son-in-law, Dr. Jeffery Kennington; daughter-in-law, Lourdes Fleites Ladd; and five grandchildren, Catherine Kolbe Kennington of Arlington, Va., Charles Allen Kennington of Dallas, and Dr. Hugh Jose Ladd, Matthew Ladd Esq., and Christina Ladd, all of Miami, Fla.; her sister, Pauline Dudley of Staunton, Va.; her sister-in-law, Margaret Renalds of Lexington, Va.; and dozens of and nieces and nephews.

Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Sunday at Klingel-Carpenter Mortuary.

Services will be at 2 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church Monday.

Donations can be made to the John Marshall University Foundation, One John Marshall Drive, Huntington, W.Va., 25701 or Trinity Episcopal Church, 520 11th St., Huntington, W.Va., 25701.