Larry was born in New Westminster, B.C. and lived in the small French community of Maillardville, B.C. (near the Port Mann Bridge). He remembers playing with his younger brother, Rene, and neighbourhood children. Sometimes the 2 brothers would get into a fight, but if a bully tried to beat one of them up, they were always there to fiercely protect each other!
Larry's primary language at this time was French. He also served as an alter boy and wanted to become a priest. By the time Larry was school aged, his family was moving often and Larry found it hard to keep his grades up and having to keep making new friends. Maybe this is why he developed such an attractive sense of humour.
By the time he was in high school, whenever Larry was part of a conversation, he would usually have people around him laughing about something! One of the schools that Larry attended from grade 4-6, had also been attended by Janet from grades 1-3, so they just missed each other there. Larry often said that was a good thing, because at that school, many children had their "boyfriends" and "girlfriends". Larry and Janet may have been planning for thier marriage at 12 yrs. old, instead of 18! (It should be mentioned that by this time, Larry had discovered girls and all thoughts of being in the priesthood had entirely vanished!)
By this time Larry's family had increased to 3 more brothers and a sister. Larry and Janet began attending the same school (Clearbrook Junior) in grade 8, but it wasn't until grade 10 that they became good friends. Janet was watching for a guy who was French, Italian or Spanish, and loved God with all his heart. Larry only qualified for one of these, but Janet was watching to see if God would change that. :) By the time they had been out of school almost a year, Larry started attending church with Jan, and Jan and others were praying for his salvation.
One day shortly after (on May 1st, 1970) the pastor asked Larry, "If St. Peter was standing at Heaven's gate, and asked you why you should get into Heaven, what would you say?" Larry said he hoped he'd been good enough, because he hadn't done anything REALLY bad. The pastor explained that the Bible says that there is not even one single person perfect or holy enough to get into Heaven, but Jesus died for the sins of each person, so now God offers the gift of being made right, clean from sin, and free from guilt to whoever wants to have it.
The pastor asked Larry if he wanted to pray and ask God to forgive his sins, accept this gift of salvation and choose to live for God. Larry said "yes" and says he immediately felt like a weight had been lifted off him - and Janet was VERY EXCITED!
Six months later Larry and Jan were engaged, and 3 months later they were married (only because Jan held out for a wedding, instead of immediately eloping as Larry had hoped!) Michele was born 2 yrs. later, then Larry and Jan began operating King Hoe Excavating. Monique was born 4 yrs. after that.
Larry and Jan did a large assortment of ministries throughout their lives, always working side by side. Meanwhile King Hoe Excavating continued to grow through the years, and even though Larry and Jan worked together every day and usually went out for lunches, they eagerly looked forward to every Friday night which was ALWAYS date night.
In June 2007 Larry and Jan went to the doctor, to get some test results. The doctor, unable to look at them, said that Larry had incurable aggressive prostate cancer, so they should sell their company right away. Larry and Jan had been generally planning to sell the company in 2008, but now God was clearly confirming this. Larry rejected some offers for the business, until he was satisfied that the new owners chosen would treat their 30 employees well. Larry and Jan had learned a lot of faith with finances with running their business for 35 years, but, as Larry told his emplyees, now God had them on a "new adventure". It was definitely not an easy "adventure", but they learned so much about how to trust God in this new life and death situation. They chose to learn an excellent life lesson: to enjoy whatever they could in each day, knowing that God could see a big picture that they could not, but they would trust Him.
They are so very thankful they had this insight that their days together were more limited than originally expected. It gave Larry time to prepare very well for Jan, in every way he could think of, and they took advantage of every opportunityto make great memories - like serving God together at Kawkawa Camp, or going on lots of special dates and holidays!
Many people said to Larry that they were so sorry he had this cancer, and he would say, "I am blessed because I'll probably get to Heaven before you." He was really looking forward to being with Jesus!
Larry's favourite tee shirt is the one he is wearing in the attached picture taken on his 61st birthday Oct 17/12. It says "IT'S ALL GOOD", and this is such a great summary of the way he chose to see life.