A.J. LAURENT

IN MEMORY

 

 

 

then
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2011

 

Dear Friends and Family of Aristide,

              Today about 3 PM or so Pacific Time, A.J. passed away peacefully and in no pain. He was comfortable and was with the nurse, caretaker and good friends. I am sure most of you knew he has been fighting Cancer for some fifteen plus years and led a valiant battle. In the last two years, the fight became greater and despite all, A..J.. fought and won those battles. Their have been at least a few times, that we thought might be his last, but he always bounced back and one thing we learned was never to bet against A. J. as he always won the battle at least until now.

        We gave him a 70th Birthday Party this year and he  was able to see a lot of people he had not seen for a long time. It seemed to give him some closure or some kind of conclusion and shortly after his condition worsened. He basically stopped eating whole foods last week and stopped drinking a couple days ago and had some liquid in his lungs in the last day and a half. 

    He was with us though, and he could hear us and respond occasionally. His closest devoted friends were here as much as possible and AJ was surrounded with love and care. He did not want to die in pain or alone and he did not. He was truly blessed and we loved him, despite all of the times he told us to leave him alone. However if we were not there for some reason, he wanted to know why we were not there.

     We want to thank all of you for your cards and phone calls and your best wishes. We know he really appreciated those thoughts and we did read, played and or showed those messages to him. You are getting this message because you were on his friends or family email list, so he would want you all to know what has happened to him. His funeral will be in Alabama next week, although we do not have the info to give you at this time. Hopefully in the next day or so, we will know this information.  We are truly the honored to have known and loved him.

                                    David, Rob, Peter, Tony and Rey        

                                              November 1, 2011

 

A BRIEF BIO

 
     What a surprise this is: 1961/62 meets 2001 in a 2-day span. What a time we live in. Jules Verne must be rolling over in his grave at what he started.  Wow! This just blows my mind after all these years. Phew!  
      I'm from Alabama.  I was originally scheduled to be transferred to a base in Florida (McCord or something like that) from KAS but, at the last minute, I was sent back to Keesler to be an MIO instructor. I rather enjoyed it even though I was too young to appreciate it at the time.
       I was a child of battling alcoholic parents and joined the USAF 3 days after graduation to get away from my dysfunctional family life. After honorable discharge from Keesler, I had NO desire to return to Magnolia Springs, Alabama, and the life I had known there. So I and a friend who was discharged at the same moved to California and joined another friend who was stationed at an airbase in Oxnard. When he got discharged, the 3 of us began a new life as Californians in 1964.
       I went to college on the GI bill and graduated from Cal State University with a degree in Industrial Arts. I had originally planned to teach but wound up in the graphic arts industry, eventually owning a print shop in Hollywood specializing in posters & ads, etc., for the movie industry. I minored in journalism and also did a lot of writing for various newspapers and magazines. In 1996, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and retired.
          Great bringing the past to life once more.
Aristide (A.J.) Laurent