Carol P. Ludden

Carol P. Ludden

Carol Ludden, who was ordained an Episcopal priest and started the Pike Market Ministry in Seattle's Pike Place public market in 1984, died on Monday at home in Seattle at age 71.

Ludden died of extensive abdominal cancer. Over the last ten years she alternated chemotherapy for brain cancer with trips as wide-ranging as Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, and tent camping in Wyoming. As one of the early women priests, Ludden preached and taught widely in western Washington, and led numerous retreats for both parishes and the L'Arche community, for which she was pastor for many years. She took 20 groups of 12-15 each to Mexico to learn from the poor, visiting Benedictine sisters there and in Nicaragua.

Prior to her career in the ministry, Ludden was active in politics, running campaigns for Seattle mayor and US Representative, planning for the bicentennial in Massachusetts, and community planning in Washington State. She studied at Columbia and General Theological Seminary in New York.

Ludden loved to cook and entertain, studied field biology in the Tetons and Yellowstone and was an active birder and gardener, interior designer and co-creator of religious vestments for two bishops and several priests (with her husband).

Ludden was born in New Hampshire is survived by a brother in Maine, her husband, and nieces and nephews. She planned her memorial service in detail, probably to be held in September. Memorial gifts may be sent to: Wandering Minister, St. Andrews Episcopal Church, 400 E. First Street, Aberdeen, WA 98520.