Lona Ingwerson, an inspirational speaker and Christian Science practitioner who helped thousands of people worldwide find hope, health and direction, passed peacefully in her sleep early Thursday, July 18, at her “Sea Castle” at Thousand Steps Beach. She was 90.
An actress by training, she had stage roles in the 1950s and 1960s, from the Pasadena Playhouse to Denver’s premier theater, the Bonfils. She also nabbed small speaking parts in movies during the 1960s and appeared in TV commercials 50 times a week as “the Safeway lady” in the Rocky Mountain states.
But her real passion was spiritual, and her commitment to her church’s mission to lift consciousness and improve lives led her to become a sought-after speaker from New Zealand to New England. Hundreds of thousands have viewed her hour-long talks, which are still popular on YouTube. She also dealt with hundreds of individuals weekly who called at all hours for prayerful guidance and support.
Neighbors in Laguna might know her as the emcee of Laguna Beach Community Concert Band performances at the Festival of the Arts and elsewhere – or as the woman who sat at a table early every morning at South Swell Donut Shop in South Laguna studying spiritual literature to guide her through the day ahead. Shop owner Jackie Nam became a close family friend. Both of Lona’s family homes in Laguna have been featured on Village Laguna’s Charm House Tours. She was a longtime member of the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Laguna Beach.
As many as 50 weddings of family, friends, and friends of friends have been held at her home at Thousand Steps, and she loved that.
She served on the Board of Trustees for Adventure Unlimited for many years, a Christian Science-based youth camp in Buena Vista, Colo. The program was among the causes she held most dear, and she made a substantial donation before she passed.
She was born Lona Belle McNutt in Emporia, Kansas. She graduated from Emporia State Teachers College, where she met her husband of 64 years, Don Ingwerson, who passed five years ago. While Don Ingwerson did his service in the Army, she earned a masters degree in drama at the University of Iowa, where she played opposite Jerry Silverman, who later became famous as Gene Wilder.
The Ingwersons then moved to Southern California to launch their lives together, largely in pursuit of acting opportunities for her. But Don Ingwerson was establishing himself as an upwardly mobile school administrator, eventually named National School Superintendent of the Year by his peers in 1992. When a mentor offered him a major promotion in the Denver area, the family made the move. Counter-intuitively, that’s when Lona’s acting career began finding traction in radio and TV commercial work. After a later move to Louisville, Kentucky, she hosted a public television series, “At Home in Kentucky,” profiling notable Kentuckians and their homes.
Her real vocation took shape organically. When the family returned to California in the 1970s, she began putting together monologues she would use to entertain school board dinner parties and Rotary luncheons – just for the love of it. She was a phenomenally gifted storyteller. At the same time, church members and friends of friends were increasingly calling her for life advice and prayer support. She studied the Bible and Christian Science writings daily and was instant in her intuitions and confident in her assurances. She was not impressed with problems, and she never gave up on people.
Her stage presence and spiritual passion soon merged. She was officially a Christian Science practitioner for half a century and became one of the most sought-after speakers on Christian Science in her lifetime.
Meanwhile, she and her husband were serial home renovators, living in 16 houses during their marriage – often dilapidated mansions restored with her vision and his sweat equity.
She is survived by her three children, Marshall Ingwerson and Tanya Thomas of Laguna Beach and Heidi Thompson of Manhattan Beach. Two of her six grandchildren, Margaux (Thomas) Currie and Marshall Thomas, were raised in Laguna. She is also survived by her three great-grandchildren and her two younger brothers, Marshall McNott of Claremont and Dan McNutt of Murrieta.
