Madeline Irene Fagan

Madeline Irene Fagan

Madeline Irene (Ladwig) Fagan, 80, died Sept. 25, 2002, at the Shepherd of the Valley Care Center in Casper, with her long-time friend Gloria Leasendora and brother-in-law Jim Fagan at her side.

She was born to William Agustus Ladwig and Katherine Wilhemina Ladwig, April 29, 1922 in Berea, Neb., the second oldest child of a well known farming family.

The Ladwig family farmed in Nebraska and Wyoming, and farmed in VanTassell and Keeline in the mid 1930's, settling in Manville about 1941.

She married Orville Tony Hinrichsen in April 1940. The couple had one daughter, Irene Marie. Both her husband and daughter died in a car accident while traveling through Arizona in September 1942.

She worked in Springfield, Ill., and in airplane factories in California, before moving to Lusk, where she met and married Thomas John Fagan on Sept. 6, 1946. In deference to a pact made with a fellow bronc rider, the couple was married at midnight at the foot of Hap Sankey's bed.

Her mastery of words made her a formidable Scrabble player and she won numerous crossword puzzle competitions. She was an avid bowler and a long time member of Epsilon Sigma Alpha sorority, holding several offices through the years.

Teachers looked forward to having her daughters in their classes, and she was quick to offer her assistance as room mother, cookie baker, costume seamstress, and chauffeur. She packed lunches for 4-H tours, sewed prom dresses for her daughters and their friends and insisted her daughters do their homework. She sent "care packages" to see both daughters through college degrees.

She is survived by two daughters, Josephine Jane Fagan McClain of Anchorage, Alaska, and Joyce Elaine Lindsay of Boring, Ore., a granddaughter and two great-grandchildren, all of Anchorage; four sisters, Autumn Lorraine Wilson of Colorado, Ruth Ella Mae Drewry of Montana, Helen Elizabeth VanSickle of North Carolina and Lucille Loretta Ornett of California; and three brothers, Harold Frank Ladwig and James Earnest Ladwig of Wyoming and James Edward Ladwig of Colorado.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husbands; one daughter; sisters Josephine Mabel Ladwig, DeLyda Mary Catherine Siefert, Olga Marie Lamont and a brother William August Frederick Ladwig.

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