Kathryn Louise Luschen

Kathryn Louise (Kay) Luschen, of Roanoke, Va., went to be with the Lord on Wednesday, October 27, 2010, from complications following a brief illness. She was born on October 21, 1920, in Carnegie, Okla., as the only child of John and Bernice (Holt) Dickinson. She graduated from Woodward, Okla., High School and also from the University of Missouri at Springfield. After college, she worked as a civilian employee for the Army Air Corps where she met her future husband of 66 years. She was involved in dramatics and theatre productions from an early age and enjoyed Thespian activities throughout her adult life. As the wife of an Air Force officer, she lived in various places across the United States as well as Germany and Puerto Rico. She was an avid golfer, president of the Toastmasters Club in Omaha and also became president of the Air Force Officers Wives Club. In retirement, she and her husband were active in Christian ministry to prisoners at the MacDougall Correctional Institute in South Carolina. The Luschens moved to Roanoke, Va., where they have lived for the past year and a half. Surviving Kathryn is her husband, Col. (Ret.) Frank Luschen; daughter, Linda Kay Jones and Gary, of Moneta, Va.; and four grandchildren including Leslie Clegg and Bill, of Huntersville, N.C., with children, Bobby and Bryce, Thomas Gore (Regan), of Anderson, S.C., with stepchildren, Haleigh and Benjamin, Luschen Gore (Kelly) and Hunter of Augusta, Ga., and Kara Prasch and Mark, with children, Jarret, Brianna and Kathryn, of Goose Creek, S.C. There was a memorial service at Pheasant Ridge Independent Retirement facility in Roanoke 3 p.m. on Saturday, October 30, 2010. Final burial will be at the Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Oakey's Vinton Chapel, 540-982-2221.