Lola Christine Pugh

February 1, 1923 – November 23, 2010

Born in Wichita, Kansas, the second child of Walter Arthur Whitton and Katherine Elizabeth Landis Whitton, Lola Christine Pugh passed away peacefully from natural causes on Tuesday, November 23, 2010, at Community Hospital of Long Beach.

In October 1924, Chris’s mother and baby brother, Edward, passed away in childbirth. Shortly thereafter, she and her sister, Mollie Carol, moved to Long Beach, California, to be cared for by their father and maternal grandparents.

While attending Woodrow Wilson High School, Chris joined the Methodist Youth Fellowship where she met Robert Damian Pugh, a handsome young man from Polytechnic High School. She was smitten and knew immediately that he would be the love of her life.

Bob and Chris married on March 28, 1942 and honeymooned in Carlsbad. Bob joined the Coast Guard and was eventually stationed in Hawaii. In 1946, Bob and Chris resettled in Long Beach. Their first child, Gary, was born in 1947, followed by Janis in 1950 and Scott in 1962. They led an active life in raising their three children. Bob progressed through management at Proctor & Gamble and Chris became a homemaker par excellence. She perfected her cooking skills, sewed exquisitely, actively volunteered as Cub Scout and Brownie Den mothers and taught Sunday school at the Los Altos United Methodist Church. The family spent summer vacations fishing and hiking in Mammoth and Christmas vacations near Big Bear with family and friends. Chris especially enjoyed traveling with Bob and family to Alaska, Hawaii, New England, France and Canada, and locally with the enthusiastic Proctor & Gamble Alumni Group.

Chris was beautiful, sweet and vibrant. From an early age, she enjoyed theater and cinema, especially love stories, musicals and comedies. As a fast runner, she pursued softball, basketball and volleyball. However, once she began dancing, it became her personal passion. While ballet was her first choice, she also studied modern, tap and ballroom; she continued dancing for 46 years and with the founding of the Long Beach Ballet Company, she was thrilled to sew costumes and raise funds with her dedicated ballet friends.

Throughout her life, Chris maintained her sense of humor, personal style and loving personality. She established strong friendships with people of all ages and found joy every day by laughing often with friends and family.

Chris, forever remembered and loved, is survived by her husband of 68 years, Bob, son Gary and his wife Martha, daughter Janis and her husband Rick Jacobs, son Scott and his wife Irene; grandchildren Mary Ellen Pugh Hazle and her husband Wayne, Robert Pugh and his wife Michelle, Zachary and Joshua Jacobs and Sydney and Scott Pugh; sister Mollie Carol Whitton Woods, nephew Donald Woods, his wife Maya, their children Jennifer and Jonathan Woods and many cousins, nieces, nephews and friends. While Chris may be gone, she has left behind a lifetime of memories…dance, love, sing, live!

Luyben Family Dilday-Mottell Mortuary (562) 425-6401

www.luybenfamilyd-m.com