Show Mr. Larry Our Appreciation

Every day hundreds of Laderans walk up Sienna Pkwy to Oso Grande Elementary to drop off or pick up their kids. If you've been one of them then you know Mr. Larry -- a neighborhood institution if ever there was one. No matter how hot (and it gets hot out there in September!) or cold, rain or... well we don't get snow but if we did it wouldn't matter, Mr. Larry is always at stationed at the corner of Sienna Pkwy and Covenant Hills Drive ready to make sure our families get safely across.

If that's all he did -- show up unfailingly and keep our kids safe -- it would be notable. But what makes Mr. Larry special is his relentlessly positive attitude and the genuine affection he has for our kids. For two years Mr. Larry picked a little bouquet of flowers for my daughter every single day and put them on the stone wall for her to pick up on the way home from getting her brother from school. (That might actually be why LARMAC decided they needed to put different plants there this year!).

We've been blessed to get to know such a wonderful person and hoped we'd continue to see him for years to come. Unfortunately, as many of you already know, his wife recently passed and he has decided to move to Palm Springs to live with his son. Even after losing his partner of decades he was back out on the job days later, telling us that he wanted to get back to his "happy place."

Mr. Larry served his country in the military, then served our community in a slightly different uniform. Now I'm hoping that all of the people whose lives he has touched will step up to show him how much we appreciate him by helping ease the unanticipated expenses of moving into a new home that can accommodate him, cover the moving costs, and hopefully provide something extra so he can enjoy a very well deserved retirement.

I've heard a lot of people's Mr. Larry stories -- some going back a decade or more. If you feel inclined to share yours, please do. Mr. Larry hasn't asked for anything and doesn't know about this but has expressed that the expenses involved are a concern. Whatever you can contribute to such a genuinely decent and caring person to help assuage those concerns will be greatly appreciated.