The retired teacher suffered a heart attack and died at the Guam International Airport en route to Saipan on Sept. 21.
This was confirmed to Variety by his close friend, Sapuro Rayphand.
In an interview yesterday, Rayphand said he received a call from Ludwick’s wife that they were heading to Saipan for a brief vacation.
However, this call was followed by another — but this time, he was informed of his friend’s suffering a heart attack.
He was told that Ludwick had been taken to the hospital where efforts were made to revive him but it was too late.
Rayphand said the autopsy conducted ruled that Ludwick died of heart attack.
Asked by Variety how they met, he said Ludwick had been teaching on Saipan since 1967 when Rayphand began teaching at Marianas High School in 1969.
He said they both taught at MHS and lived in the same village — Garapan — where their children grew up together in the same neighborhood.
Close friends, Rayphand and Ludwick would often call each other.
Rayphand said he appreciated the time that Ludwick accompanied him for his medical checkup off island.
He also said, “ He was a fun-loving fellow, loved to sing and liked to be with his friends.”
Ivan Propst, Ed Klingsberg, and Jacques Kirby were also his close friends, he said.
According to Northern Marianas College instructor Sam McPhetres: “I wasn’t even aware of it until about two days ago,” he told Variety on Wednesday.
He also said, “I seem to remember him having one of those energy efficient farms for a while. He had quite a few pigs and was generating methane gas for some lighting. Back in the days when I was raising honey bees he had made up his farm to dispose of a very large wild hive.”
He also said he even remembered Ludwick attempting to test the waters and running for governor and even asked him to be his running-mate.
He said he remembered Ludwick even had a letter to the editor discussing this.
Ludwick had letters to the editor in the Variety published on June 28 and July 5 stating his intent to run for the highest position in the commonwealth.
In the letter, Ludwick wrote, “I have decided that I can do something more to help my beloved CNMI. I became an adopted son of the islands sometime in the 1960s or 1970s, because by that time I had the good fortune to teach some really nice, intelligent, thoughtful people…. So I think. What can I do? Run for governor on an independent ticket. Pull the intelligentsia together.”
In his follow-up letter, Ludwick stated, “It has been said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The beauty of participatory democracy is that you the citizens have the power. I am only an instrument to see to it that your desires are implemented. If you provide no solutions, it’s your fault not mine…. Let’s get participatory democracy started here and now! Support Roger N Ludwick for Governor.”
Online commentator and longtime Saipan resident Ruth Tighe said, “He was a great help to me when I first came to Saipan in 1980 to work in the library system at PSS. He was open, good-natured, friendly, supportive.”
Donna Cruz, another longtime resident and retiree, said, “I was so sorry to hear of Roger‘s passing so suddenly. I did not know him well. In fact, I first met him when the Commonwealth Retirement Association was contemplated 2-3 years ago.”
Cruz remembered Ludwick as one of the first to actively seek for the saving of the Retirement Fund. “He was not only vocal, but he strove to be active as well.”
She added, “I’ve heard many good things said of him by some of his former students. He was always a gentleman in my presence. I have faith that God has a plan for us all even though, at the time we face deep sorrow, we might not know what that is. I wish peace and love for his family and friends.”
Ludwick, who was born on July 22, 1939, had a degree from the University of Miami. He had been a teacher and resident on Saipan for over 40 years.
