Ardis Lange, 91, of Mansfield, Ohio, woke up in heaven on January 1, 2024, after a 15-year battle with dementia. Born in April 1932 in Mitchell County, Iowa, at home, she was the daughter of Harold and Alice Witt.
She was raised on a farm in Mitchell County, Iowa, where she rounded up pigs and cows and tended sheep with her two sisters. She attended Rock #7 School, a one-room schoolhouse, and graduated from Plymouth High School. She was a student of Allen Hospital’s Nursing School RN program in Waterloo, Iowa, where she graduated at the top of her class and received the Florence Nightingale Award.
She met her husband, Vernon Lange, on a blind double date. Vern and Ardis were married in 1955 in a double wedding with her sister Thelma and John Fromm in Plymouth, Iowa. Together they raised three children, Tom, Betsy, and Nancy, mostly in Ohio.
Once her children were grown, she resumed her nursing career in 1980, working at Mansfield General Hospital until her retirement.
Ardis had many talents and interests and was known for her clever witticisms. Through the years, amongst her friends and family, she has been known as a sheep herder, clarinet player, seamstress, crafter, lefse maker, handy man, gourmet chef, furniture refinisher, rug braider, cabinet maker, bird watcher, gardener, button and stamp collector. In her later years she could always be found working on a crossword puzzle.
She attended Southside Christian Church. She was involved in PTA, Altar Guild, Newcomers and Neighbors Club, Gourmet Dinner Club, Bridge Club, the Red Hat Society, and she supported her husband in the MS Society.
She was preceded in death by her husband Vern in 2008.
She is survived by children Tom Lange, of Mansfield, OH; Betsy Lange (Rick) of Albuquerque, NM; and Nancy Collins (Patrick) of Avon, OH; grandchildren Timothy, Eric and Michael Collins; and her sisters Thelma Fromm and Lila Witt of Prescott, AZ. She will also be missed by her long-time friends Bob and Chris Finley.
Ardis’s family would like to thank all the caregivers at Crystal Care Nursing & Rehab Center of Mansfield, where she resided since her stroke in August, as well as the caregivers at Southern Care Hospice. At Ardis’s request her body was donated to The Ohio State University College of Medicine. A private celebration of life will be held.
Wappner Funeral Directors-Mansfield is honored to serve the Lange family.
Words of condolence may be expressed at www.wappner.com
Funeral Home: Wappner Funeral Directors-Mansfield
Website: www.wappner.com