Ida Amelia Franke Ladnier Shaw

Ida Amelia Franke Ladnier Shaw passed peacefully on March 12, 2024 at her home with close family and friends. She celebrated her 105th birthday this year in January. Originally born in Pascagoula, Mississippi, while her father had a mechanic’s shop near the gate to Ingalls Shipbuilding, she has lived in Lizana since 1952.

In addition to her many activities, she traveled to Europe visiting her great-grandfather’s hometown in Germany and the Ladnier homeland of Switzerland and on to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.

Ida’s grandfather migrated from Radebeul, Germany to America about 1885. His son and Ida’s father Frederic William Franke married Flossie Ann Wilson Franke with Ida being the second of their 8 children. 

Ida started first grade at Pineville Elementary when she was five years old. After graduating from Pass Christian High School, Ida decided she wanted to attend Perkinston Jr. College where she earned extra money by waiting tables, working in the library, and grading papers for a teacher. She played piano and sang in the Glee Club. In the summer of 1939, Ida attended the Mississippi Southern Teacher’s College in Hattiesburg, MS, where she received her teacher’s certificate.

In 1939, Ida accepted a job teaching first, second and beginners grade levels at Lizana Elementary School for the newly appointed principal named Royal Melvin Ladnier. Royal and Ida were married at St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Lizana in 1940. Ida was a School Teacher for 13 years, Social Worker for 17 years with the Mississippi Department of Human Services, Census Taker and Income Tax preparer. Ida was the Church organist for St. Ann’s Catholic Church for 50 years.

After Royal died in December of 1997, Ida married Gilmer Theodore Shaw in June of 2002.

In Lizana, Ida had a 10-acre yard full of different varieties of flowers and fruit trees where she often grafted or cross-pollinated camellia and other plants and enjoyed quilting and canning. In retirement, she could be frequently found at farmers’ markets across the coast selling potted plants and canned fruits and vegetables.

In 2019, the Mississippi House of Representatives had a proclamation of recognition for Ida’s contributions to Mississippi from her teaching career and wished her a happy birthday for her centenarian birthday.

She was predeceased in death by her parents, Frederic William Franke and Flossie Ann Wilson Franke, her spouses Royal Melvin Ladnier and Gilmer Theodore Shaw, her children Randall Ladnier and Janice Ladnier and her siblings Frederick Franke, Lois Miller, James Franke, Carl Franke, Conrad Franke and Alice Morris.

She is survived by her children Royce Ladnier (Luisa), Linda Longino, Glen Ladnier (Marilyn), Dale Ladnier (Earleen), Kevin Ladnier (Darlena), daughter-in-law Linda Loonam (Randall) and stepdaughter Mary Shaw, her grandchildren Cooper Ladnier, Amelia Ladnier, Angela Amora, Jason Ladnier, Christel Mellinger, Nicholas Ladnier, David Ladnier and Christian Ladnier, 15 great grandchildren and 1 great-great-grandchild and sibling Judith Satchfield.

Ida’s family would like to issue a heartfelt thanks to Dan Longino for his dedication to Ida and the family over the years, Ida’s loving family and friends who provided their love and support and the doctor at St Joseph Hospice and the quality team of RNs and CNAs who supported us in Mom’s final weeks.

Memorial donation suggestions are the National Breast Cancer Foundation or the charity of your choice.

Visitation will be Sunday, March 17, 2024, from 5:00 until 7:00 p.m. at Bradford-O’Keefe Funeral Home, 15452 O’Neal Road in Gulfport. The Funeral Mass will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, March 18, with a Rosary at 10:30 a.m. at St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Lizana.  Interment will follow at Gulf Pines Memorial Gardens, 19361 28^th Street, Long Beach, MS.