Larry use to come downstairs and miss with the stuff on my desk all the time. So it became a ritual of ours that if he missed with my desk I would lock him in the jail when he had to go back there and get into their files. Well, finally he figured out to take the lock with him. One day he had to get into one of the closets. I guess he thought that I was not around. I sneaked up on him and locked him. Well the lock was broke it took about 30 minutes to get the lock to work and get him out of the closet. From that day forward, Larry always took the locks and/or his keys with him.
My favorite memory of Larry Don was finding out that there was a Larry Don. I was very young and I loved looking through photo albums. I kept seeing this person that I did not know. Finally one day I asked my mom who that boy was. She said it was Larry Don. Then I asked who is Larry Don and I found out that although I thought I was the youngest of 6 kids, I was actually the youngest of 7 kids. I had many questions as you can imagine. It was really strange knowing that I had a brother I didn't know.
I don't know how Larry's life was as a child, but I do know that he turned out to be an awsome man. I decided that when I turned 18 I was going to find Larry Don. And amazingly enough it was so easy. I don't even remember trying so hard to find his information, it was like it just dropped into my lap like I was supposed to be able to find him. I was so scared to call him. I had no Idea what to expect. It isn't every day that a person gets a call that says, "hey, I am your sister."
Larry Don just laughed when I told him I was scared. He said, "You don't have to be scared of me." He talked with me for a long, long time and I felt so good when I got off the phone. I finally had my brown haired brother. All my other siblings had blond hair and were light complected. I felt like Larry was "MY BROTHER". I loved and still love all my other brothers and sisters, but it was like Larry and I had a connection that most people wouldn't understand. Anyway, it turned out where I finally got to go meet him. That is when he was still married to Denise and it was great. I was scared to go there cause I was always a Daddy's girl and I didn't think it was appropriate to talk about Daddy all the time. But you know what? We talked about anything and everything. It was like we had known eachother forever.
Larry came to Oklahoma and visited with us. It was great. We actually were all grown and married, but you couldn't tell it by the way we acted. We joked and played around. We had a big water balloon fight and they were even crawling on the roofs of the building and bombing eachother. It was so great.
I did get to see Larry a few other times other than this, but after that we got so busy in our lives that we just e-mailed eachother and promised to get together again. But time went on and went on. I remember sitting at the computer one night crying and writing to Larry about how I missed him and that I wanted to see him and that I was sorry for not coming to see him again. I didn't know why it was having such an effect on me at that particular time. But Larry took the time to write me and tell me that he understood and that we would get together.
Then later I told my mom, "I guess having grand-kids has really been good for Larry because he sends the most possitive E-mails. They are religious or just possitive. If they aren't that they are about cancer, so I guess he is still helping Trish deal with her cancer." I never dreamed that God was preparing him to go home.
Anyway, I got to go see Larry Don earlier this year with Mom and Dad and my little Brady. Larry was pretty sick and we did't get to visit a lot. But what time we did get to visit was a treasured time for me. Then right at the end when he asked for his parents and we went back I had the most favorite memory of all for me. Daddy played the guitar that he had given to Larry Don. Trish and Kim were there and there was a few others in the room. When Daddy started playing "Wild Wood Flower" Larry Don started acting like he was directing the music. Then he started waving his hands from side to side like he was dancing. He would clap his hands and then wave them back the other direction. He just smiled and laughed. We all smiled and laughed. Except Little Trish, she broke down and cried. I know it is because she saw Larry being Larry again and she loved it, but it hurt so bad to think of him leaving. I would give anything to have my Brother back, but I wouldn't take anything for the memories that God gave us to share.
I told Larry that I spent my whole life looking for him. He said, "I know, you hunted me down like a hound dog, and this isn't the last time you will see me." I know that I will see him again in person. I still see him every single day in my mind. I did and I will always love him.
I want to say a special thanks to Larry Don's family that he knew as he grew up. I don't know what his life was like, but I do know that everything that happened in his life made him who he was, and although I wished I had known him sooner, I am glad that I got to know who he was. He was a great person. I will never forget him, and I thank all of you for helping him become who he was. He may not be with us personally, but he lives in all of us because he is a person you could not meet and leave as the same person you were before. He left his mark on everyone he met and it was a good mark. He Is!!!
And this song that plays on this sight will make a person cry forever. But Larry has crossed the best river that will ever exist and he will be sitting on the banks waiting for us when we get ther. And face it, he will Win...... God Bless Everyone who has taken part in sharing Larry's life.
If you have any photo's of Larry please post them. I would love to see more of his life. I know there will be lots of smiles cause Larry always had one for anyone.
Thank You God for Sharing Larry with us!!!!
I have several memories of Larry.I have worked with him 20 yrs.He loved to sneak up behind you and scare you.Then laugh and laugh.He done that so much i finally felt his prescence behind me before I ever turned around.The best was when we had a call of a theft report. I gave the call to him.He looked me straight in the eye and said I'm not going. I said you better.Well without my knowledge he went and came back.When he came back in I asked him did he take that report.He said No I told you I wasn't going.I blew up,got mad and my face turned red.Then he just burst out laughing and said got you. He sure did. The joke was on me.He would tell different ones about that joke on me.He also said he would haunt me someday.I know he is laughing his head off in heaven.Will miss him dearly in all kinds of ways.
Larry was the best shot with a rubber band that I have ever known. He could sit at his desk, shoot it through my office window and hit whoever was at the copy machine. The game almost came to a screeching halt one day when he came within a few inches of hitting the wrong person coming down the hall. We got quite a laugh at his expense.
Larry was such a joy to be around. If I was in a bad mood or feeling a bit down, it didn't take him long before he had me laughing.....usually with his lack of sympathy. I can't think of anyone who knew Larry that did not consider him to be a friend. He will be missed!
I didn't know Larry as well as some others...and not nearly as well as I wish I had. I guess the only real memories I have of Larry are simple....he was just always there. Seemed like every time I drove by the PD, Larry was standing outside the back door talking to someone...usually John Dement :) Every time I came inside, there was Larry with a cup of coffee (or some other beverage), talking to someone. One of my last memories of Larry was from a day I visited with him, about 4 or 5 days before he passed, and he told me to come back and see Trish (she wasn't there at the time) because "She'd be mad if you don't and you don't want Trish mad at you." Then he said "She needs all of you now"....always thinking of someone else and never himself. My very last memory of Larry will forever be his "Last Call". God Bless 1902.
