Larry & I went all the way from 1st grade to 12th grade together. He was always upbeat. He had some unusual pets...a opossum (I owned the back half), a skunk, and a decrepit dog. When he'd come over to the house, he'd always make my Mother laugh with his antics. He was fairly muscular, mostly due to his sorry old red bicycle. Nobody else could ride the thing, the bearings were so bad and it always wanted to go to the left, but he'd always beat us racing. In Baker Jr. High 8th grade, Larry and I managed to spend the middle class period of the day up on the roof staring at clouds. (We were supposed to put up an antenna for a crystal set for science class.)
One day, he and I were riding our bikes outside of town and he saw a package of Bull Durham in the road. He announced that he was going to make a cigarette (no papers were with the sack), so he got about 10 inches of toilet paper and poured the whole sack out on it. After rolling it up loose...it wouldn't roll tight...he tied to lick the edge of the paper to make it stick. That sure didn't work! I had to laugh at his spitting out chunks of toilet paper for quite a spell. Anyhow, he cradled his creation in both hands and said to "light it off!" That thing burned faster than a gunpowder fuse and wound up singing his nose pretty good. Somehow, he didn't think it as funny as I did.
Larry was a good man. He worked two jobs his whole working life. We'll miss him.
Larry was a wild one. None of us football players wanted the seat next to him on the bus trips because he never settled down and let you sleep. A true "charcter". I think of him fondly. Jack Frost.
My mom, dad, and I moved to Ellis Drive in Arcadia Village, and two doors down from the Cousers, midway through my 4th grade. Larry was the first kid on the block there that I met, as he quickly came down to see who I was. He and I became good friends, and were in the same class for the remainder of that year, and the next two, at Sam Houston Elementary; Mrs. Teeley in the 4th, Mrs. Robideau in the 5th, and Mrs. Hatch in the 6th. We were in Boy Scout troop #216 which met in the hut on the edge of the public grounds at the school. There were numerous camping trips to Camp Karankawa on Lake C.C.
If you can believe it, during those years, I could relatively easily beat him in physical strength activities. We had lots of clover fights and wrestling bouts in Vanderbilt Park, which was in front of our houses, and laughed through them all. Of course, returning home brought the inevitable scolding from our moms because of the green stains on our clothing.
Larry and I were also part of the neighborhood kid crowd that formed pick-up games of football and softball, depending upon the time of the year, in said park. Larry developed this style of spinning, when he carried the football, which made it almost impossible to grab on to him as he moved along toward the end zone. On Saturday mornings, this same crowd gathered either to ride our bicycles back and forth the 2-block length of the street, or to head up to the Ayres Theater, where, as you remember for nine cents, there was a cartoon, the Movietone News, a short, a serial, a preview of coming attractions, and finally the feature.
Larry Russell and I stopped by to visit with Larry in his home at the time of the 2010 reunion. We had a nice visit, but did not meet his wife as she was ill. That was the last time that I saw Larry.
It was certainly great knowing you Larry, and I think a lot of our youth together. God speed, my friend, on the next leg of your continuing voyage through the cosmos.
Larry Russell
Larry & I went all the way from 1st grade to 12th grade together. He was always upbeat. He had some unusual pets...a opossum (I owned the back half), a skunk, and a decrepit dog. When he'd come over to the house, he'd always make my Mother laugh with his antics. He was fairly muscular, mostly due to his sorry old red bicycle. Nobody else could ride the thing, the bearings were so bad and it always wanted to go to the left, but he'd always beat us racing. In Baker Jr. High 8th grade, Larry and I managed to spend the middle class period of the day up on the roof staring at clouds. (We were supposed to put up an antenna for a crystal set for science class.)
One day, he and I were riding our bikes outside of town and he saw a package of Bull Durham in the road. He announced that he was going to make a cigarette (no papers were with the sack), so he got about 10 inches of toilet paper and poured the whole sack out on it. After rolling it up loose...it wouldn't roll tight...he tied to lick the edge of the paper to make it stick. That sure didn't work! I had to laugh at his spitting out chunks of toilet paper for quite a spell. Anyhow, he cradled his creation in both hands and said to "light it off!" That thing burned faster than a gunpowder fuse and wound up singing his nose pretty good. Somehow, he didn't think it as funny as I did.
Larry was a good man. He worked two jobs his whole working life. We'll miss him.
Jack Sanders
Larry was a wild one. None of us football players wanted the seat next to him on the bus trips because he never settled down and let you sleep. A true "charcter". I think of him fondly. Jack Frost.
Gary Gill
My mom, dad, and I moved to Ellis Drive in Arcadia Village, and two doors down from the Cousers, midway through my 4th grade. Larry was the first kid on the block there that I met, as he quickly came down to see who I was. He and I became good friends, and were in the same class for the remainder of that year, and the next two, at Sam Houston Elementary; Mrs. Teeley in the 4th, Mrs. Robideau in the 5th, and Mrs. Hatch in the 6th. We were in Boy Scout troop #216 which met in the hut on the edge of the public grounds at the school. There were numerous camping trips to Camp Karankawa on Lake C.C.
If you can believe it, during those years, I could relatively easily beat him in physical strength activities. We had lots of clover fights and wrestling bouts in Vanderbilt Park, which was in front of our houses, and laughed through them all. Of course, returning home brought the inevitable scolding from our moms because of the green stains on our clothing.
Larry and I were also part of the neighborhood kid crowd that formed pick-up games of football and softball, depending upon the time of the year, in said park. Larry developed this style of spinning, when he carried the football, which made it almost impossible to grab on to him as he moved along toward the end zone. On Saturday mornings, this same crowd gathered either to ride our bicycles back and forth the 2-block length of the street, or to head up to the Ayres Theater, where, as you remember for nine cents, there was a cartoon, the Movietone News, a short, a serial, a preview of coming attractions, and finally the feature.
Larry Russell and I stopped by to visit with Larry in his home at the time of the 2010 reunion. We had a nice visit, but did not meet his wife as she was ill. That was the last time that I saw Larry.
It was certainly great knowing you Larry, and I think a lot of our youth together. God speed, my friend, on the next leg of your continuing voyage through the cosmos.