Diana Patricia Eastburn Ludlam, age 79, died on October 17, 2021 due to complications from dementia and traumatic brain injury. She was born April 6, 1942 in Cottage Grove, Oregon, to Darrell Scott Eastburn and Dorothy Mae (Beach) Eastburn. She married her partner in life and work Dr. William M. Ludlam (“Bill”) in March of 1968 – he preceded her in death in 2002.

Diana grew up in the small community of Cottage Grove. She was part of a large, close-knit family on both the Beach and Eastburn sides, and spent much of her time with her parents, brother Stephen and sister Ethel Ann, Grandparents Tina Beach (always called Nana) and Ila and Sam Eastburn, and her many aunts, uncles, and cousins. She graduated from Cottage Grove High School with the class of 1960 and was also very close with her classmates - those friendships endured throughout her life.

Diana attended Doane University in Crete, Nebraska, where she initially majored in music, and continued her training as a classical pianist and operatic soprano. Ultimately her love for music was personal and she chose not to pursue it as a profession, deciding instead to major in psychology - she graduated with a bachelor of science in 1964.  

Diana’s work as a Developmental Vision Therapist was central to her life. She began her journey in Optometry with Dr. Tole Greenstein, whom she met by accident when an employment agency sent her to the wrong address for a job interview – their initial conversation grew into a professional relationship and Diana’s entrée into Developmental Vision. Dr. Greenstein was a teacher, mentor, and, along with his wife Miriam, a great friend to Diana.

As Diana’s career progressed she helped to found the COVT certification program, the first certification program for Vision Therapists, at the College of Optometrists in Vision Development (COVD); Diana was one of the first to complete the COVT certification and worked in curriculum development and teaching in the program for decades. She and Bill were instrumental in the founding of the Neuro Optometric Rehabilitation Association (NORA) and the Optometric wing of the National Academies of Practice (NAP), and were involved as Board members and advisors to both organizations for many years. She helped hundreds of patients to overcome vision and reading disfunction with kindness and stellar clinical skill, and received regular correspondence from many of them up until the end of her life. Diana received many honors and awards, including the Ludlam Award (named for she and Bill) from NORA, co-authored dozens of research papers with Bill and others, and was regarded as one of the most experienced and respected Vision Therapists in the field of Developmental Optometry - in fact, a colleague recently referred to her as the Grande Dame of Vision Therapy, a thoughtful and fitting tribute.

Diana and Bill met at an Optometric conference in San Diego, where she was an organizer and he a lecturer. After their first meeting they were rarely apart, and within a few months Diana  moved to New York and married Bill. They worked together in their private Optometry practice and at the Optometric Center of New York (which Bill founded with his close friend Dr. Nat Flax) teaching and conducting research. Bill was offered a full professorship at Pacific University College of Optometry, and he and Diana decided to take advantage of this opportunity and moved their family to Oregon in 1973.

For over 30 years Diana and Bill worked together at their private Optometry practice in Hillsboro, at Pacific where Bill was a professor and Diana a lecturer in the Optometry School, and lecturing, teaching, and consulting all over the world. Theirs was a loving partnership, and her loved ones felt that Diana never truly recovered from Bill’s sudden illness and death.

Diana loved her family, and was particularly close with her parents and siblings. She and her daughter Mandie were extremely close, and had a loving relationship for Diana’s entire life. Diana, jokingly, took credit for Mandie’s relationship with Paul – Paul was Diana’s patient and she introduced he and Mandie. The three of them loved spending time together.

Diana loved to host parties – her home was the setting for many  celebrations with family and friends each year. Her favorite holiday was Christmas, which always included several big gatherings of family and friends, a huge tree, and comprehensive decorations – it was said that anyone standing still at Christmas time would be decorated with a red bow!

Diana loved music, art, and theatre – really, anything beautiful or creative. Her family enjoyed hearing her play the piano, sing, or play selections from her large and eclectic music collection, every day – she even sang to the family pets, who loved it and gazed at her adoringly! She, Bill and Mandie attended the Oregon Shakespeare Festival annually for over a decade, and Diana would plan the visits so that they could attend every production on offer. She loved to travel, and she and Bill traveled frequently for both work and pleasure, eventually visiting every continent except Antarctica. Diana loved visiting museums, and enjoyed doing so around the world. Her mother Dorothy was a talented self-taught painter, sculptor, and poet, and Diana learned to appreciate art and express herself creatively at Dorothy’s knee – indeed, Diana was a talented amateur painter in her own right.  

In her later life Diana lived with Dr. Ken Ciuffreda in New York for nearly 10 years. They worked together at SUNY Optometry where Ken was a professor and she was a lecturer, student advisor, and helped to oversee the Visual Evoked Response (VER) clinic – fitting as Bill invented and he and Diana developed the VER technology. She and Ken collaborated on a number of research projects, including developing a protocol for veterans with visual issues caused by traumatic brain injury sustained in combat, in partnership with the Department of Defense. They enjoyed going to jazz clubs, museums, and traveling.

Diana was a light in the world – she was renowned for her “rose colored glasses” and uplifted everyone around her with her enthusiasm and positive outlook. She was loving, fiercely intelligent, creative, and the most fun person her family and friends ever knew. Those who were fortunate to know and love her will keenly feel her absence, always.

She is survived by daughter and son-in-law Normandie Garnet (Mandie) Ludlam and Paul DeStefano; step-daughter Genevieve Houston-Ludlam, her husband Mark Houston-Ludlam, and their children Alexandra, Douglas, and Carmen; step-daughter Marguerite Ludlam and her children Jessica, Daniel, and Michael; step-son William H. Ludlam, his wife Suzanne Ludlam, and their children Grant, Lia, Ava, Jena, Livia, and Luci; 3 step-great-grandchildren Hannah, Aiden, and Ezra; nephews Matt Graham and his wife Kelly and Ryan Graham and his wife Nikki, and niece Amber Eastburn; many cousins, including Leslie Ratley-Beach and her husband Bob Zatzke; and many close friends, including Loi Hansen her friend of nearly 70 years.

Diana’s family suggests that remembrances may be made in the form of contributions to the Diana Eastburn Ludlam Scholarship at Doane University (donations can be mailed to the Diana Eastburn Ludlam Scholarship at Doane University, 1014 Boswell Ave, Crete NE 68333), the William M. Ludlam OD and Diana Eastburn Ludlam Endowed Scholarship Fund at Pacific University (donations can be made here), or to nonprofits supporting the arts or animal welfare including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Portland Opera, Portland Center Stage, and Oregon Humane Society in her memory.