Saturday, August 22, 2009

Larry Lazarides Jr.

Larry Lazarides Jr.


Larry, about a year before he died
Larry Lazarides Jr.
Son of Laura & Larry Lazarides

Born:
December 11, 1977
Houston, Texas, USA

Died:
March 8, 1998
Canton, Ohio, USA

Larry was born when I (George Lazarides) was 11 years old, I was the first one of my family (besides my mother) to see him when they brought him out to a crib in a small room with a window for us to view him from the waiting area.

I think that my older brother (John), my sister (Linda, also older) and I were closer to him than we were to each other because we had a hand in raising him.

Larry died at the age of 20 on March 8, 1998, not even six months after our father died (September 10, 1997). He seemed to be healthy as a horse (as the saying goes).

Larry would accomplish anything he put his mind to. He was smart...and stubborn.

Larry was my Best Man at my wedding in 1993. Here is Larry showing me the time on his watch so I won't be late for my wedding.
Larry reminding me of the time

Here he is leading a dance line at my reception in 1993.
Larry leading the line

Larry wasn't much of a dancer, but he loosened up as the night progressed! Here he is doing his version of The Twist, people cleared off of the dance floor to watch him and his flying feet!
Happy Feet Larry!

He was also in our brother John's wedding in 1987. This is John in the white tux. our dad (Larry Lazarides Sr.) sitting, Larry (Jr.) is the youngest and that's me on the right (with a mustache!).
Larry, John, dad and me

He loved life:
He would ski, hike, party, play Hackey Sack, skate board, Roller Blade, play guitar, SCUBA dive, drive his new Camaro convertible (he wanted the weather to get nice so he could drive with the top down), read (he read more than I have), and much more.
Larry skateboarding in 1990

This is Larry in Lake Erie at Geneva-On-The-Lake (Ohio) in 1992, he got a bad sun burn on that trip.
Larry in Lake Erie

Here are some pictures of Larry and friends at Cedar Point in 1993. The girl standing next to Larry in the next two pictures was killed in 2000, a horrible event that was in the news world wide, it still shakes our lives ... but that's another story.

Vicki, Dave, Theresa and Larry

Dave, Vicki, Theresa and Larry (all wet)

Larry and Dave riding the RR

Larry even started a personal Web site, it's no longer being hosted, I'll try to put a copy of it back up later.

He worked as an Anesthesia Assistant at Aultman Hospital in Canton, Ohio, he was very proud of his job.

He went to school in Canton, Ohio, and later in the Perry Township schools, he graduated from Perry High School in the class of 1996.

He attended Kent State University - Stark Campus. He was striving to become an Anesthesiologist.

He had his friends over quite often, they were a very close group. After Larry died I helped move his things out of his apartment, his friends did so much to help. I cried on the way home thinking how nice they were and Larry couldn't pay them back...I still cry.

He had just moved out of my mom's house, even though she didn't want him to, about two weeks before he died.
Nicole and Larry

He had just gotten engaged to Nicole Ann Smith about a week before he died,
he was just starting out in life!
Larry and Nicole

Larry called me on March 7, 1998, from his work. He just made some small talk, he wanted to know how things were going for me. I found out that he also called John's house (our older brother) and my Mom's house that day too. About three hours after I talked to him he was found face down in his bed.

Nicole found him and called 9-1-1 and started performing C.P.R. He was already blue. The paramedics took him to Aultman Hospital (where he worked), they worked on him a long time but he never woke up. He was in a coma all night and died the next morning, March 8, 1998.

At the time the doctors told us it was some kind of heart attack. On July 11, 1998, (more then four months!) we finally got the official Death Certificate, Larry died of pneumonia.

I want my little brother back...

1 comment:

George L. said...

Feel free to share stories about him or to just make some comments.

I'll start with a story that I used to tell when I'd want to embarrass him:

One day when Larry was about 5 or 6 years old (I was about 16 or 17 years old) I was left to watch Larry at the house, as my mother was leaving she said to make sure that Larry took his bath. So after a while I went upstairs and filled the tub for him, he got in and started taking his bath.

I went downstairs, after a while it got quiet upstairs. I got worried, "Are you OK Larry?!?" I yelled. "Yeah," he replied.

OK, everything was alright, I thought he'd be getting done but it was still quiet.

"Is everything alright up there?" I asked. "Yeah," came the reply. This time I went up to see what was going on. When I got in the bathroom he was just sitting still in the tub, "Are you done with your bath?" I asked him as he sat motionless in the now cold water.

"I'm done," he said.

"Then get out of the tub."

"I can't," he said.

"Why?" I asked, not seeing any reason why he couldn't. He wouldn't answer, "Why," I asked again.

"I can't move, there's a monster behind me."

From my vantage point I could tell there were indeed no monsters anywhere to be seen and I told him as much. He explained that he could see it's shadow and gave a slight gesture to the wall next to him ... he saw his own shadow that would move when he did and he thought it was a monster's shadow!

He was afraid of his own shadow!