Frank Raymond Ludwig

Doctor faithfully prayed every day

— Even if it was 2 a.m. or 3 a.m., Dr. Frank Raymond Ludwig would walk into the hospital with a smile on his face, ready to try and save a life.

“Besides his skill, he had a way with patients as far as being empathetic to their needs and desires,”said retired physician Dr. Bruce Schratz. “He wasn’t like, ‘I’m going to cut you up, make an incision and heal you.’ He worried about healing their minds as well as their bodies.”

Ludwig, a surgeon in North Little Rock for almost 40 years, died Wednesday at his Maumelle home from congestive heart failure, his family said.

He was 79.

Growing up, Ludwig considered joining the Catholic priesthood like his brother did, but he ultimately chose a medical career.

“Every day, he would stop at 3 o’clock and say a prayer, his cell phone was set to pray at 3 o’clock,” said his daughter, Meg Eichelberger. “He was an extremely devout Catholic.”

In the early 1960s, Ludwig began his surgical career in North Little Rock.

“It was the old-time doctoring,” said his daughter, Karen Haney, an emergency room doctor. “There were so many people coming in paying $10 a week. That doesn’t happen anymore. There was a relationship.”

Schratz said Ludwig was a general surgeon, doing everything from removing cancerous tumors to abdominal surgeries. Ludwig was one of the early pioneers of laparoscopic surgery for gallbladder removal, which eliminated the need for a large incision and cut down recovery time.

“He was really enthusiastic about it because of the patient’s response because people healed quicker, had less hospital time,” Schratz said.

Before the days of emergency room doctors and surgeons, Ludwig was rushing out to the hospital anytime someone needed to be “sewed up,” Haney said.

For several years, Ludwig took his medical expertise abroad to places such as Mexico and Honduras on mission trips.

“He worked in the hospital doing general surgery and helped to train some of the Honduran surgeons,” and donated money to upgrade a school’s computer laboratory, Schratz said.

Ludwig enjoyed seeing the locals excited about their faith, Eichelberger said.

“He would set up clinic, [but ] then there was also a priest that came,” Eichelberger said. “He said the people were always a lot more excited about seeing the priest than the physician, and he loved that.”

Full of wisdom, Ludwig often lectured to his five children.

“The gamut goes on and on - driving advice, advice on golf, he had at least 50 lectures on golf,” Eichelberger said. “We’d call it lecture No. 47, Part A or Part B. ... He had a lot of lectures on interior painting techniques. He was hilarious.”

Eichelberger said her father had a goofy personality, whether he was backing his car into a pole for the umpteenth time or giving his children a surprise treat.

“He would start saying, ‘Oh it’s happening again, [the car’s] broken. I can’t control it.’ It would look like he was fighting the steering wheel,” Eichelberger said. “Then he’d turn, and we would be right at the ice cream shop. He’d say, ‘Oh well, since we’re here, we might as well get a milkshake.’”

In retirement, Ludwig continued to make good use of his surgically trained hands.

“He used his surgery skills when he got older. He just moved over and started making rosaries,” piecing together hundreds, Eichelberger said. “He’d use those giant hands to bend those pieces of wire on every bead ... the 12-year-olds being confirmed in Little Rock and North Little Rock, they’d all get handmade rosaries.”

Arkansas, Pages 10 on 01/25/2013

Upcoming Events