Obituary of Valerie Luedtke

Valerie Jeanne Luedtke

On Thursday morning, April 18, 2019, Valerie left the confines of this earth to walk with the Lord in Heaven. She was at home with her husband and daughter by her side, as she passed peacefully into His arms.

Born in Catskill, NY on July 22^nd, she was the first child of Herbert E. Armstrong and Barbara Jeanne Armstrong of Cornwallville, NY. Family changes eventually would have Valerie traveling the country and finally settling in Fortuna, CA where she graduated from Fortuna High School and attended the College of the Redwoods where she studied Business Management. Different roads in life finally lead her to start her life in Charleston.

Valerie began her career in the Lowcountry first as a bookkeeper for the South Windemere Woolworth’s store and then being promoted to the Assistant Manager of the Northwoods store. It was there that her friend Linda hatched a plan with her husband Gary to set her up on a blind date with Gary’s friend Scott who was a volunteer firefighter with Gary at the Hanahan Fire Department. Valerie and Scott met for the first time on July 3, 1981 for dinner and dancing at the Charleston Air Force Base NCO Club. Scott was a Staff Sergeant in the US Air Force. They continued the date the next day at Linda and Gary’s home for a 4^th of July picnic.

The winds of fate had blown and the two were nearly inseparable. Within six months they were engaged and married on July 4, 1982 making Hanahan their home. A few years later they were blessed with the birth of their daughter Rachael. A short while later she would be a stay at home mom and used her talent as an artist to start her business Woodens by Valerie which morphed into Wisteria Lane Studio. Valerie began a line of hand painted switchplates and decorative wooden items along with commissioned pieces for realtors and new homeowners. Selling mainly at art shows and festivals the demand for the switchplates soon outgrew their ability to maintain inventory. A change was made to a four color print process that was attached to the wood backing. Additionally, she designed and produced a line of notepaper and scripture based Pass the Word note cards. Being produced solely by Valerie and marketed by Scott they were first approached by a marketing firm that took the line national and then was picked by the National Wildlife Federation and sold through their catalogs. Production skyrocketed and soon the wood cutting was outsourced and employees were hired to finish and package. Orders for thousands were coming in and the garage had its own UPS pickup. During this time she was also home schooling Rachael. But the overall stress took its toll and soon problems with keeping up ended the contract with NWF. It is only in hindsight that it was realized that this occurred at the beginning of her battle with Parkinson’s Disease.

Valerie was very involved in ministry taking on the Children’s Ministry at Vinelife Church (PCA), Lighthouse Church (SBC), and Cooper River Baptist (SBC) for many years. The annual Fall Festival was one of her favorite projects. She was involved in the Women’s Ministry at Metro North Church (PCA) where she also taught pre-school. Her heart led her to Outreach Ministry at the Charleston Baptist Association. She would lead many people to a relationship with the Lord over the years both inside and outside the church. Three close friends from Cooper River would join her to minister to the women at some of the Charleston area apartment complexes.

Valerie’s love for children led her to start giving art lessons to home schooled kids that did not have the option of an art class like in a normal school setting. Working out of a studio at her home she had as many as 12 students a week, teaching them based on their abilities and talents. She developed a curriculum that included the basics to the Master’s and had many of the students display and receive awards for their art work at the annual Coastal Carolina Fair’s Art Competition. But alas, this too would be sidelined by her disease.

The small family would travel all around the Southeast, starting when Rachael was little, to places like Williamsburg, Nashville, Gatlinburg and other historic sites. Rachael would marry and live in the Upstate of South Carolina and Valerie loved to travel there to visit and ride into the mountains. Visits to Rachael’s were made even sweeter with the birth of her first grandchild Elsie Rae.

But Valerie’s story is not just what was seen all these years. There was another story that goes back to her biological father that she never knew and the family that she did not know. Over the years Valerie was kept from any information pertaining to her father and was made to promise not to question or attempt to find him. After her mother passed she felt the promise was no longer in force and wanted to find out more about her father. Valerie’s brother Todd and husband Scott started to search for him and unfortunately came upon his obituary. Valerie had missed the chance to meet him by a few years. But Scott dug deeper and found that she had a brother and sister. She put together a package of information about herself and sent it to both in order to introduce herself and to possibly make contact with them.

She did not hear from them for almost a year when she, Scott and Rachael traveled to Middleton, NY for a conference. It just happened that it was only an hour from Cornwallville, her father’s hometown. They went to county seat to research the plats and family information but found nothing. Valerie had remembered the name of the road that her grandparents had a summer house on so they found the road and in the midst of trying to find the house came upon a resident that told them that they should try the post office because one of the Armstrong’s worked there. At the post office Rachael went in and introduced herself and found that the Armstrong that was there was a cousin and told us how to get in contact with one of the older Armstrong’s in the town. As it was getting late they waited until the next day to call.

Uncle Edmund (one of the few that knew about Valerie) answered and after a brief introduction said “Valerie we have been looking for you too”. He gave them directions to his home, and to her grandparent’s house, and they met that afternoon where she met her brother David and many other family members. Unfortunately, just two days before was the family reunion and Valerie had just missed meeting her sister Debbie. That was rectified the following year when they traveled back to Cornwallville for the annual reunion. David hosted a small immediate family reunion at his home where Valerie met her sister, cousins (one of which she was in a picture with in the family albums) and other close relatives. Everyone marveled at the fact that the family was now together. A larger reunion took place later that week with almost 200 in attendance. Valerie was overwhelmed by the love and acceptance she received.

Valerie continued to fight but the Parkinson’s slowly wore her down. She never lost her gentile manner or composure and always had an upbeat outlook on life and her family. She would express her love for the Lord and her family on a daily basis.

Valerie is survived by her loving family, husband of 37 years Scott, daughter Rachael, son-in-law Keith and granddaughter Elsie Rae. From the Dupree Family her brother Todd (Machelle), her sister Sarah (Jack), predeceased by her mother Barbara Jeanne, step-father Curt, and brother Scott. From the Armstrong family her brother David (Maureen), and her sister Deborah (Kevin), predeceased by her father Herbert. Numerous uncles, aunts and cousins are recognized.

Valerie wished to cremated and her ashes kept by Scott until his passing when they could be scattered together. She also wished to have a Celebration of Life gathering for her family and friends. This will be held at Cooper River Baptist Church, 1059 Crawford St, North Charleston, SC 29405 on Tuesday May 7, 2019 at 6pm. A meal will be served and everyone will be able to fellowship together and reminisce about the times they shared with Valerie. In lieu of flowers, donations or memorials can be made to the Children’s Ministry of Cooper River Baptist Church.

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