Claude Frederick (Budd) Loesch, 82

Claude Frederick (Budd) Loesch, 82, died in his Beacon Woods, Fla. home on January 4, 2013.

He was born to Gordon Edward and Geraldine Laura Loesch at his grandparent’s home in Erie, Pa. on November 28, 1930.

He grew up in Ashtabula, Ohio and was reared by his mother and stepfather Richard Whitaker on the family farm.

At the age of 15, he ran away from home and joined the Army, after convincing recruiters he was 17. He served nearly a year before being sent home and was paid to finish high school under the GI Bill.

Loesch began his dream job of training horses, and trained and showed horses for various owners in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

He married Phyllis Corbett in 1950 in Ashtabula, Ohio.

During the Korean Conflict, Loesch served with the Air Force 6002nd Air Intelligence Group. He was honorably discharged from Eglin AFB in 1955.

Loesch began his newspaper career at the Ashtabula Star Beacon as staff photographer in 1955.

In 1960 he married Kay Pickard Eighmy from Ashtabula.

In 1970 he joined the Ketchikan Daily News in the production department and attended First Baptist Church.

While in Ketchikan, he coached the Ketchikan Little League Tournament team and took the state championship trophy in 1977. Loesch and Larry Erickson took the team to the Regional Little League Tournament in San Bernadino, Calif. where they won two of three tournament games and returned to Ketchikan as sports heroes.

Loesch assumed the publisher’s position for The Cordova Times and The Valdez Star in 1980.

Loesch and his wife Kay published the weekly Chehalis News in Washington State for two years, until 1982.

Loesch relocated to Bayonet Point, Fla. in 1984 where he later retired.

He is preceded in death by his parents, stepfather, infant son Phillip Thomas Loesch and granddaughter Sarah Jane Loesch.

He is survived by his wife Kay; sister Jerie Leigh (Ed) Pickard, Jefferson, Ohio; four sons, Ron (Anne), Petersburg, Alaska, Randy (Kathy), Oshkosh, Wis., Tom (Rebecca), Anacortes, Wash., and Jerry (Sandi), Sedro Woolley, Wash., 6 grandchildren, and 7 great grandchildren.

Memorial services will be held Feb. 2, 2013 at Beacon Baptist Church.

Loesch is interred at Grace Memorial Gardens in Hudson, Fla.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent to Beacon Baptist Church, 13343 Fivay Road, Hudson, FL 34667.