Isabelle Laddusaw, 96, played in the Father’s Day tournament at Lake Panorama National with her son, Rick Langel.
By Susan Thompson | Lake Panorama Times
As a person who loves playing golf, but whose game seems to be deteriorating with each passing year, a Father’s Day encounter gave me hope.
Isabelle Laddusaw turned 96 years old June 7. A week later, she was playing in the Father’s Day tournament at Lake Panorama National with her son, Rick Langel. They were one of 21 teams that competed in the adult division of the two-person alternate shot event.
Isabelle Laddusaw, who turned 96 on June 7, hits a drive on the fourth hole at Lake Panorama National.
“I love golf,” Isabelle tells me. “I’ve never had a hole-in-one, but I’ve come close.”
Same, I tell her.
Isabelle grew up in LeMars. When she married Bill Langel, they moved to a farm near Remsen. They were married for 47 years before he passed away following heart surgery. After Bill’s death, Isabelle moved into Remsen, where she has lived the last 27 years.
The couple raised nine children — four boys and five girls. Rick, who with his wife, Mare, live at Lake Panorama. Rick was the fourth child born. Isabelle’s youngest, her “baby” son Craig, turned 60 the same day she turned 96.
“You want to know the best part,” Isabelle asks me. Of course, I say.
“I have 97 great-grandkids and two more in the oven. And I have 37 grandkids,” she says. “I’m pretty proud of my crew.”
Tell me how you got started golfing, I ask.
“When the golf course at Remsen was being planned, we put money into it,” Isabelle says. “That was close to 60 years ago. We were members, and we had a golf cart in one of the sheds. But we didn’t really know how to play golf.”
Rick Langel and his mother, Isabelle Laddusaw, competed in a two-person alternate shot tournament June 15 at Lake Panorama National. They were paired with Tyler and Mare Langel.
The Remsen course opened in the spring of 1973. Rick Langel remembers the year because he graduated from high school that spring. He and his father played the course for their first time on Father’s Day that year.
Isabelle says Bill was a “mediocre golfer.”
“We farmed, and he didn’t have the time to play much. He could hit the ball a long way sometimes, but he didn’t take it too seriously. He was a fun guy.”
Even with nine kids and her own work on the farm, Isabelle carved out time to play golf on the Remsen course. The home she moved to from the farm after Bill’s death is near the course, just south of the green on the second hole.
“I’ve had some great golf partners over the years,” she says. “I and some of my golfing friends started a Golden Girls tournament more than 40 years ago. When we started, it was little. We had our husbands on the course, serving drinks. It grew every year. Now, other gals have taken over that tournament, and they have 150 players.”
How often do you play golf, I ask. Isabelle laughs.
“I play a lot, sometimes several times a week,” she says. “There are a group of us who plan times to play. We all have our own carts, and once everyone shows up, we take off. We play our nine holes in two hours, then go into the clubhouse for a beer. We don’t care about winning or losing; we just have fun. The guys in the clubhouse call us the Flying Fannies.”
Sounds like the guys in the clubhouse are jealous.
Isabelle’s health has kept her off the golf course many times, but she keeps coming back.
“I’ve had back surgery, brain surgery, knees, hips, heart surgeries. I’m like the bionic woman,” she says. “After one surgery, I told the doctor I thought I was probably on my way out. He told me to stop that sort of talk; he didn’t want all of his efforts wasted.”
In November, Isabelle and her second husband, Dick Laddusaw, will have been married 27 years. For nearly 50 years, Dick and his first wife, Doris, were best friends with Bill and Isabelle Langel. After Doris passed away, Dick called Isabelle, and a match was made in heaven.
The June 15 Father’s Day tournament was the first time Isabelle played the Lake Panorama National golf course.
“I liked it,” she says. “It’s a beautiful course. It’s a lot longer than our Remsen course, but I like it.”
At the end of the day, Rick Langel asked Isabelle if she would play with him on Father’s Day again next year. Some golfers might have hesitated, saying they couldn’t plan that far ahead. But not Isabelle.
“I just hope I putt better next time,” she said. n