Lawrence Foss

Lawrence (Larry) Foss died in the night of August 10, 2023.  He remains vividly alive to us all.  Few people in the is world could give us more happy memories.  We remember sad times, too, the Paradise Fire when he and wife Leslie, lost home / and for Larry a lifetime of artwork.

Larry’s art and life was full of beauty, humor and adventure.  I remember Larry as a boy, and how hard life was for him under our father, an abusive, alcoholic gambler who later could not comment when asked about Larry as a boy – but Larry remembered ducking whenever his father raised his hand.  By ten years old, after moving dozens of places, Larry and his 6 siblings and mother (divorced) all ended up in Red Bluff, CA.  Impoverished and always hungry, Larry found a way to supplement his ration of cornmeal mush by hunting.  He ate things like partridges, and sometimes bullfrog legs. 

Larry once said he could run like the wind, so thin there was no wind barrier on his body.  He lonely, and wandering, once said he did not know if he were the “sea monster or the sea”.  But later, being “lost” -especially in the woods was a constant joy for him.  Like John Muir, Larry heard “the calling” of the hills and the mountains, His art and art of life reflected it.  To Larry’s sisters, he was our dearest only brother, to Larry’s friends:  their best friend, to his nieces and nephews:  a favorite uncle and to some:  a father.  To strangers, some they could not forget, “larger than life”.  And said, “They never knew a person who loved life more.”

When Larry was 19, he joined the Air Force.  He was very happy to be fed 3 meals a day and Larry could not understand when anyone complained about the food.  After 3 ½ years of Langley Airforce Base, Sgt. Foss was sent to Vietnam for 6 months.  I remember him writing the “Vietnamese were terrible shots.  They dropped bombs around us but didn’t his us”.  Larry knew “the Navigators” during this time who helped him put faith in God and to know God loved him.  We believed this.  And now, Larry is with God and making the angels laugh (Angels deserve this, too, having to help this sorry world). 

Larry left us with these words, “Love God, love one another, and love what you do”.

NOTICES/UPDATES:

Interment Date:  Tuesday, August 29, 2023 at 1:00pm at the Angel Fire Veterans Cemetery, with a 20 minute Military Honor Ceremony.

From DeVargas Funeral Home of Taos, procession will leave at 12:00pm (there is road construction on U.S. 64 East that may delay those attending, please take that into consideration).

Larry’s resting place is beautiful, the elk are beginning to migrate there, and the mountains, even the Rocky Mountains – are seen towering in the distance.

Funeral Service will be held on Monday, August 28, 2023 at 10:30am at Crossroads Church, Los Alamos, NM (address: 97 E Road, Los Alamos, NM) followed by a Memorial/Luncheon.