Ludwig Strass was born in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, on April 20, 1924 to his parents, Camilla and Max Strass, immigrants from Prague and Berlin, respectively. He was the last of seven children, Otto, Paul, Regina, Francis, Bertha, Elsie and, finally, Ludwig. At birth, his last name was Straschitz, but was changed during elementary school by his brother, Otto, for the entire family.
He grew up in the Bronx section of New York City, thereby making him a lifetime New York Yankees fan. He told the story of being treated to a baseball outing with his brother-in-law Mack Ross (husband of Regina), during which he got to see Babe Ruth play for the Yankees.
Luke as he was known was cared for by his mother and sisters in their apartment in a 5 floor walk up building. In case you don't know, that means there was no elevator. It had a common bathroom at the end of the hallway for all the residents of that floor to share. The apartment had gas lighting at first and, then, was converted to electric lighting in the late 1920's. The telephone was at the drug store on the corner of their street. As a young boy, Luke would hang around the drug store and if some got a telephone call he would run to their apartment to tell them, in hopes of getting a nickel for his effort.
World War II broke out while Luke was a junior in high school. After graduation, he wanted to be a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corp, but he was color blind and got rejected. So, instead, he became a radio repairman for the Army. He was first sent to Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri for training and, then, to the desert outside of Yuma, Arizona to train with General Patton's command to prepare for service in North Africa. After completing their desert warfare training, the Army in all of its typical wisdom, immediately shipped Luke and his fellow repairmen to India to follow the combat troops of General "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell, across the jungles of Burma and into western China on what was called the Ledo Road.
Luke served in China until the end of the war. While there he suffered three severe attacks of malaria, one of which almost took his life. While it didn't kill him, it did destroy his hearing. He suffered from hearing loss for the rest of his life. He was discharged from the Army and went home to New York City, but didn't want to live there any longer, after having seen the Western part of the U.S.
He moved to Michigan to live with his sister Regina and her husband, Mack Ross. While there, he was introduced to a Michigan State University student from Detroit, named Lois Rose, who was studying to be a teacher. They married in August of 1949, lived briefly in Detroit and had their first child, Laurie in 1952. They then, moved to a suburb of Los Angeles, called Eagle Rock, for a few years, but returned to Detroit in time to have their second child, Bernard. Finally, in 1959, they moved to Phoenix, Arizona, their final home (except for one odd year in Houston). There, their last child, Camille was born in 1964.
Luke was a businessman and a salesman all his life. He worked for Sears and Roebuck and for several other local companies selling draperies and upholstery to homeowners and businesses. In
1969, he opened his own business, Desert Draperies and Interiors, which he operated continuously until he retired.
His hobbies included radio controlled airplanes, model building, rifle target shooting, reading and enjoying comedy of all sorts, whether on radio, television, movies, in person or in writing. He traveled on vacation with Lois and the kids every year, usually to San Diego or Los Angeles or up to the mountains of Northern Arizona. After retirement, Luke and Lois traveled the world by air and ship to see Europe, Alaska, Hawaii and, especially, Israel, where their oldest daughter, Laurie was raising her family.
Luke was especially proud of his children, Laurie, Bernie and Camille and his grandchildren, Max, Mark and Jacob (Bernie's) and Danielle, Rachelle and Ariel (Laurie's) and, of course his favorite dog was Camille's beagle, Whimpy.
Luke set the record as being the oldest living Strass at 96 years. He was happy to have lived as full a life as he did and to have had many friends and a loving family to be with.
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