LaLonde, Lawrence E. "Do you want to save your country? Raise your child to be a Public Administrator!" -Larry LaLonde (Dec 15, 1960) Born March 12, 1920, in Gilbert, MN, Lawrence Emmett (Larry) LaLonde was the 12th of 12 children born to Joseph and Emma (née Verville) LaLonde. A 1937 Gilbert HS graduate; 2 yrs a CCC co clk at Ely, MN's Camp Isabella; a 1939 frosh enrollee on the Univ of MN's Mpls campus; and 1942 Army pvt enlistee at Ft Snelling-after completing pre-flight trng as an Aviation Cadet at Ellington Field, Houston, TX in 1943, midst Adv Bdr trng at Pyote, TX, Larry met WU tty opr Merry Louise Brunson (his future wife) when locking eyes across the room at a nondescript café in nearby Monahans. In 1943-44, USAAF's 2nd Lt Lawrence LaLonde flew 20+ combat missions as a Flying Fortress B17 Bdr/N-gnr, earning 2 Bronze Battle Stars. 5 months later, on Oct 17, 1944, at Casper, WY's AAFBU's Army Chapel, Gilbert MN's 24-y/o 2nd Lt Lawrence LaLonde married San Angelo TX's (and Lakeview HS's) 19-y/o brunette Merry Louise Brunson. Relieved from active duty in 1945, in Sep Larry reenrolled under the GI Bill for Univ of Mn fq classes, the 2 peripatetic LaLondes moving to 1629 SE 6th St (1 block N of Dinkytown), into a minikin 2-rm brickstone walkup featuring a pulldown Murphy bed and cockroach-infested kitchenette. March 26, 1946, son Christopher (Garry) Keith LaLonde born Mpls Swedish Hospital. (Crib placement at home crucial.) 1946-BA (Political Science and Economics) awarded Lawrence LaLonde, Univ of MN; 1947-MA (Public Administration) awarded Lawrence LaLonde, Univ of MN. Nov 2, 1948, Larry cast his virgin vote for 4th party presidential candidate Norman Mattoon Thomas, a democratic socialist/ pacifist - in June 1949 the fledgling 3 LaLondes moving to one of 103 metal-frame GI family barracks at University Village Grove East, Falcon Heights, MN. July 26, 1949, 2nd son Gregory Lawrence LaLonde born Mpls Swedish Hospital. Following Larry's 5-yr Chicago/Palatine stint as IL State Dept of Ed Voc Rehab Cnslr, in 1954 the 4 LaLonde retreads returned to Mpls, and Linden Hills-Larry newly employed as Admin Asst in the City of Mpls' Water Dept; in 1956 promoted Pers Admin/Supv of the City's Engr & Water Dept; and in 1967 apptd 'Executive Assistant' to the City Engineer. Dec 26, 1975, Larry remarried, to Elaine Barbara (née Hoff) Conn; SS Gregory Conn, SD Deborah Conn (Olson). Retired in 1982, Larry LaLonde's incorruptible 28-yr tenure as Admin/Supv of Mpls' Public Works (while scrupulously sidestepping Parkinson's law of bureaucracy) showed resultant increased efficiencies having saved the City estimated hundreds of thousands of dollars yearly. A lifetime public and civil svt, Larry began reading heavily, "as a means of reeducating myself," and in 1983 returned to audit graduate classes at the Univ of MN, choosing selectively the more radically-leaning Liberal Arts professors available. Retiring from competitive tennis at age 95, in 2017 97-yr-old USAAF combat war veteran Larry LaLonde completed 4,000+ hrs work as a hospital volunteer, "the oldest volunteer" ever to have worked at St Louis Park, MN's Methodist Hospital. Garnering no small amount of authorial approbation among friends and relations as the pithy, self-deprecatory father of the annual family Christmas letter during the deafening decade of the 1960s, on Dec 13, 1965, to his readers 45-yr-old Larry LaLonde introspectively scribed: "What of the eldest family member (he of the Degaullish nose and rounded shoulders?) Greying perceptibly; a bit more crotchety perhaps; wishing occasionally that he were more adventurous; wondering whether another vocation might have been more satisfying; increasingly concerned about our country's apparent role of World Policeman; fervently hopeful that Black and White will ultimately be able to live together peacefully and with equal dignity; and on a more mundane level, increasingly exasperated and impatient with poky bus drivers, aimless autoists, inane commercials, incompetent tradesmen, employee malcontents, inflexible subordinates, and provincial sportswriters, ad nauseum. But lest it be thought that I myself have become a malcontent let me quickly add that I am still sustained by my ever-thriving real-estate, a pretty girl, a good basketball game, and an occasional wailing outing at the neighborhood piano bar. perhaps the following sentiment can serve as a salutary guide-line for the conduct of all of us: 'So many gods, so many creeds, So many paths that wind and wind, When just the act of being kind Is all this sad world needs' Best Wishes, Larry, and Louise, and Garry, and Greg" Lawrence Emmett LaLonde died at Fairview Southdale Hospital on October 13, 2021.

Published on October 24, 2021