Rev. Taylor of the First Presbyterian Church writes about the loss of Professor Levi Ludden who died in 1903.
Some years before his death the Western University of Pennsylvania decorated him with the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. There is a strangely beautiful way in which this man was especially missed by those who attended the house of worship. He was always a great lover of nature and spent much time among the flowers. That which to the ordinary gaze was only a common weed held a peculiar place of beauty in his heart. Like Hawthorne says of a minister in the Old Manse, “He loved each tree, doubtless, as if it had been his own child.”
It was this passion to have God’s blossoms in divine worship that caused him to spend hours in adorning the pulpit. For nearly thirty years the rostrum and pulpit were made a thing of beauty through his artistic decorations and floral designs. In the winter months his own green-house provided the materials for his pictures. In the autumn the fields, valleys, meadows, and woods gave up their treasures to aid in the worship of God. Certainly no Saturday afternoons could have been spent more profitably and no Sabbath mornings more to the service of God than in this work for which he was peculiarly fitted.
It was his special gift and the people not only of the Church but of the whole community are still singing his praises. Again and again the congregation went on record in their expressions of gratitude for his work; and on one occasion presented him with a handsome arm chair. At his death a memorial was established under the title “The Ludden Memorial.” It was a fund to provide flowers for the pulpit in memory of his untiring and freely-given services.
“The Seventy-fifth Anniversary of Church” program has a landmarks section. This is orientated toward the spiritual contributions of many church members.
December 6, 1903, Professor Levi Ludden passed to his reward. He was a great man, a mighty worker in the Kingdom of God and a man who appreciated the value of samll things. For 32 years he had arisen at dawn on Sabbath morning, gone to the fields or woods to gather flowers or greens that the church might be decorated. Knowing this, we appreciate more fully the occasional note in our calendar that the flowers at the altar are in memory of Professor Levi Ludden.
The Christian Endeavor Society at the First Presbyterian Church shared the feeling for flowers,
Many a sick room has been made bright with their fragrant bouquets, and many a dollar has been sent to encourage the work of missions. In one single week they furnished two hundred and forty bouquets to a hospital, beside the flowers which brought sunshine to the afflicted homes. Such movements as these have determined that trend of character in the Church to-day which will abide as a type of stable Christian thoroughness.
George Taylor, Jr., A Brief History of The First Presbyterian Church, Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh: Reed & Witting, 1916, pp. 72, 55-56.
“The Seventy-fifth Anniversary of Church” program, May 11, 1941.