Viva Lugbill

Viva Stoltzfus Lugbill, formerly of Estes Park, passed away in Boulder Colorado on July 22, 2025, at age 94. She enjoyed a week with her children just days before suffering a stroke, leaving our world peacefully at home, with family, and under hospice care.

Viva was born August 9,1930 in rural Martinsburg, Pennsylvania to Daniel D. and Martha Frances Barbe Stoltzfus. She had a happy childhood, growing up on a farm with 5 brothers. She attended 2-room Curryville School and then consolidated Martinsburg School. At age 14, her family moved to Hesston, Kansas where she graduated from Hesston Mennonite High School in 1948. After Hesston College pre-nursing classes, she began nurses' training at La Junta Mennonite School of Nursing, Colorado. Viva, the youngest in her class, made friends for life-her classmates had multiple reunions and still write a "circle letter."

During nurses' training, Viva and her classmates enrolled at the University of Colorado to do pediatric rotations in Denver. The young women enjoyed outings with some Goshen College (Indiana) students working on a Westminster ranch. Through her Archbold, Ohio classmates, Viva met Ralph W. Lugbill. Early dates were to Red Rocks and Golden's Buffalo Bill grave. After many hikes, picnics, and other adventures, the two decided to marry and thus began their love for each other and the Rocky Mountains.

Just before marriage, Viva was recruited to work at Elkhart (Indiana) Hospital by "Aunt" Olive Rich, an Archbold native and registered nurse. The hospital had many polio cases and not enough nurses. The two young women cared for desperately ill polio patients and children whose limbs were paralyzed. As a single woman with no children, Viva nursed these patients without fear of taking the dreaded disease home to her children.

Viva Stoltzfus married Ralph on December 30, 1952 in Atmore, Alabama, near her parents' Florida panhandle farm. She wore a beautiful white satin and lace gown that she made herself, but cautioned admirers that covering several dozen buttons by hand was not an easy task! They honeymooned in Miami Beach, with photos showing white sandy beaches.

In 1953, Ralph and Viva went to La Plata, Puerto Rico, where Viva was a nurse in the Mennonite Hospital. Daughter Ann Louise was born in the tiny rural hospital, a renovated warehouse. Returning to Archbold, Ohio in 1955, Ralph joined the family livestock auction business, Lugbill Brothers, and later the Lugbill Supply Center farm supply business. Viva did some private duty nursing in addition to caring for her growing family, eventually including Ralph Kent, Ron Geoffrey, and Jon Phillipp. Viva and Ralph were charter members of Zion Mennonite Church and volunteered to assist migrant farmworkers, often enlisting their children in the effort. Summer vacations usually were at Little Eden Camp in Onekama, Michigan where Viva sometimes served as "camp nurse."

In 1964, the family moved to the Washington, D.C. area, living in Vienna and Fairfax, Virginia and, later, Bethesda, Maryland. Ralph and Viva joined the Oakton Church of the Brethren and later Langley Hill Friends Meeting (Quaker). Viva became Langley Hill's delegate to the Baltimore Friends Annual Meeting. She and Ralph volunteered at the Potter's House (Church of the Savior) coffee house on Columbia Road in Washington, DC. She volunteered to assist the Mennonite Central Committee in opening the first "Ten Thousand Villages" fair trade crafts store outside traditional Mennonite communities. Decades before this MCC project, Viva had bought Puerto Rican fair trade needlecrafts from Edna Ruth Byler, whose family worked in La Plata with Viva and Ralph. They loved hosting many international visitors to Washington, D.C.

With her children in school, Viva began nursing at Arlington (VA) Hospital, a Fairfax City nursing home, and for many years a state Northern Virginia health care facility for disabled infants and children. She often worked the night shift so that she was home when the family was awake. When her own children were off to college, she graciously worked holidays so co-workers with young families could be home. She was a skilled and dedicated volunteer with the Fairfax County mental health agency, visiting rural isolated patients struggling with poverty, mental illness, and substance abuse.

When sons Ron and Jon began competing in canoe and kayak races, Viva went, too. She drove thousands of miles, hauling paddlers and boats to distant campsites for training and races. By 1975, sons Ron and Jon qualified for the U.S. Canoe and Kayak Team and Viva and Ralph traveled to Europe for international canoe and kayak competitions. The entire family watched Jon compete in the 1992 Olympics (Spain) and Ron coaching Olympic paddlers. They enjoyed this travel in Europe, particularly the Swiss Alps, home of many Swiss Mennonite and Amish ancestors.

Viva's travel took her to Guatemala several times, including while a future daughter-in-law served in the Peace Corps. She sold Guatemalan and other fair trade goods in her small antique business, in Maryland and Leesburg, Virginia. She traveled to Costa Rica with a Colorado Sister Cities delegation to Monteverde, Estes Park's Sister City.

In the 1980's, Viva and Ralph began spending summer vacations at Meeker Park Lodge in Colorado. In 1997, they built a lovely home in Estes Park, facing Longs Peak. She planted evergreens, raspberries, Columbine and other flowers, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery, new friends, and wildlife-even elk herds in the front yard. She spent many hours gardening as a MacGregor Farm volunteer, as well as hiking and bird-watching. She wrote a Stoltzfus family history and hosted a large family reunion at Estes. After 17 wonderful years in Estes Park, health concerns caused Ralph and Viva to move to Boulder, close to son Kent and grandchildren. Ralph died of soft tissue sarcoma in 2017 and Viva left their retirement home to live with son Kent. Just before Covid struck in 2020, son Ron moved to the Denver-Boulder area. Both Kent and Ron lovingly cared for their mother as she faced the challenges of aging. She thoroughly enjoyed visits from neighbors, friends, family, and grandchildren, including her homecare "friends," Sherry, Lisa, Karen, and Glenda. During her last months, Viva was particularly happy, often sitting and watching her flowers from the front porch and singing hymns or old favorite tunes. She entertained family and friends with stories of her childhood, never losing her pleasant sense of humor.

Viva was predeceased by her husband, parents, and brothers: Daniel (Rosalie); Robert (Rachel); Frederick (Brenda); William Bryan (Margaret); and her Lugbill brother and sister- in-laws. Youngest brother Alan Stoltzfus and his wife Pam Carpenter survive, living in Forestville, California, as do sisters-in-law Brenda of Blountstown, Florida and Margaret of Goshen, Indiana. Her children are: Ann (Brewster Rhoads) of Cincinnati, Ohio and Big Pine Key, Florida; Ralph Kent of Boulder; Ron of Boulder; and Jon (Gillian) of Richmond, Virginia. Her 7 grandchildren survive: Elizabeth Lugbill Rhoads, Caroline Lugbill Rhoads, Alex Lugbill, Brian Lugbill, Anna Lugbill, Kelly Lugbill Clark, and Stephanie Lugbill. She is survived by great-grandchild, Emma, born February 2025, and many Lugbill and Stoltzfus nieces and nephews and their children and grandchildren, and friends.

Reflecting Viva's interests in making this world a better place, including through small, meaningful projects and volunteer efforts, locally and abroad, the family suggests that memorial gifts may be made to:

Ralph and Viva Lugbill Multicultural Scholarship Award, Goshen College, Goshen Indiana, providing scholarship funds to students from varied ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.

EPIC (Ecumenical Project for International Cooperation) 322 Lab Rd, Allenspark, CO 80510, Mailing: P.O. Box 433, Allenspark, CO 80510. EPIC has 23 projects in Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, US, and Nepal, addressing food insecurity, health and education, human rights, peacebuilding, environmental degradation, and climate change mitigation.

A memorial service will be held October 25 at Boulder Mennonite Church.