A EULOGY FOR MY BEST FRIEND
by
Dave Dahlberg

First of all I'd like to say that I deeply regret not being able to join you in Arizona
on April llth to attend the memorial mass for Larry.  However, since I am here
today, I'd like to say a few words and share with you a little of my history with
Larry and my thoughts of him as we remember his life and mourn his untimely
passing.

Larry and I go way, way, way back.  We first met when my family moved to our
new house, the next block over from the Miller's house on the good old East Side of
Chicago.  Our garages were right across the alley from one another.  We moved there
just before Larry and I were to begin the third grade together, almost 44 years ago.
With Lar and I in the same class, having most of the same interests and living so
close to each other, it was onlt natural that we became good friends.. Our two main
activities throughtout grammer school were playing every form of baseball known to
mankind, including Little League and Pony League, and teasing and tormenting our
younger brothers Daryl and Bryan who were also the same age, but two years
younger than Lar and I.  I have to confess, we were downright mean to them!   It's a
good thing that they didn't hold grudges against Lar and I because although we
could dominate them as kids, they both grew up to be substantially bigger than
either of us, and could have easily knocked the crap out of us.

In the 6th grade, Larry met Dan Pofelski who played on his LittleLeague team and
subsequently introduced to me.(You may have met Dan at Lar's memorial
mass last month)  The three of us have had many great times together over the
years, and except for a few years during the 1970's when we were each pursuing
our college degrees, we kept in contact and remained best of friends.  Larry and
I would always teasingly argue and site examples about which of the two of us was
the cheapest and most frugal with his money.  This dispute was never settled.   The one
thing that Lar and I always agreed upon was that we both learned these traits
from the Master----DAN.

Dan was the first to move away from Chicago to Portland, OR in the late 70's, so
we had to get used to seeing less of him.  However, Shirley and I continued to get
together with Lar and Bev at each other's homes at least once and sometimes twice
a week, drinking, partying, playing cards and sometimes playing the newly
invented video game system---Atari.

Several times a year during the summer, we would all go wilderness tent camping
up near Madison, Wi.  These 3 or 4 day weekend trips were non-stop
partying from the time we woke up until the time we went to sleep.  I know
if Lar were here he would agree, as I'm sure Bev and Shirley would, that these
camping trips were some of the best times of our lives, even though we occasionally
were rained on.  Lar and Bev would also visit us at a summer home we had on a lake
near South Bend, IN where partying and Frisbee golf were the order of the day.

Then in the mid 80's as Larry's job, and for that matter his employer, Repubic
Steel, were both winding down, he and Bev decided to pack up the van and move to
Arizona to be near Lar's family and to start their own ceramic business.  We went
from seeing them once or twice a week to seeing them once or twice a year.  That was
a very sad time for Shirley and I but that sadness was only exceeded by
Larry's passing last month on April 5th.

In remembering my best friend Larry today, three of his attributes stand out from
my prespective.

~~ First, Larry was one of the most intelligent persons I have ever met.   He had a
    great capacity to learn that was fueled by his inquisitive nature and thirst
for knowledge.  If Lar developed an interest in something, he became
obsessed with learning everything he could about it from books, the Internet,
television and any other source he could find.  He literally became an expert
on the subject.  A few examples of his expertise included plants,  the weather,
ceramics,  web site development and most recently and unfortunately cancer.
When Lar was diagnosed with cancer, he learned everything he could about it.
The doctors could not BS him and were often amazed that he knew so much
about his condition and treaments.  Occasionally, Lar would even know about
brand new experimental treatments of which his doctors were unware.
But that was Larry, if he took an interest in something, he learned all he
could about it.

~~  Second, Larry also had more drive and initiative than most people I know.
When he decided to do something(or not do something, since he could be
a little stubborn), that's exactley what happened.  Whether it was working
16 hours a day, 7 days a week, between his day job and the ceramics business,
whether it was digging holes and planting a large number of 15 foot trees
in his backyard, whether it was hauling and spreading dump truck loads
of stone from his side drive to the various flower beds around the house
or whether it was setting up several websites for him and Bev, without anyone
teaching him how..., no job was to big for Larry.  He thrived on hard work.
He enjoyed a sense of accomplishment from seeing the results of his labor
and from knowing he did it himself.  (Between you and me, I also know
that Lar enjoyed the fact that many of his efforts either made money or
saved money for him and Bev and he liked that very much).

~~ Finally, what I admire most about Larry is the courage he displayed, especially
over the last couple of years.  Knowing his ultimate fate had been sealed,
Larry nevertheless fought his affliction tooth and nail, and agreed to
undergo every available procedure that could have a positive impact on his
prognosis.  Through all the many operations and procedures he kept
an overall positive attitude despite many setbacks.  With Lar and I the same
age and the best of friends, it was hard for me to accept what was happening
to him.  And many times over the last couple of years, I found myself
imagining how I might feel or how I might react in his situation...
Anger, fear, depression, anxiety, resentment, self-pity, sorrow, withdrawal and
helplessness are just some of the feelings and emotions that I felt as any
person in Lar's situation might feel.  I am sure he must have
experienced some of these emotions at times, but never once did he
display these feelings to his friends or family.  Knowing Lar, he probably didn't
want to burden anyone or perhaps make them feel uncomfortable with his situation.
We spoke al least several times a week for the past year, right up until his last
trip to the hospital and I never once sensed these emotions from Lar.  I hope
that when my time comes to leave this world that I do so with the same class
and dignity that Larry displayed.

In closing, I'd like to share with you and inside joke between Lar and I.  It took the
form of a humorous little compliment that one of us would first tell the
other guy, after which we would proceed to argue it back and forth, repeatedly
saying, no you are, no you are, no you are and so on.  We would say this when
we felt the other guy has done somehting very good or had acted very wisely
in a certain situation or quite often just simply to tease each other.
So Lar, I know you can hear this and this time you can't argue and can't say
it back to me.  I've never meant it more than I do right now

LAR....YOU'RE MY IDOL!

AND WE'RE ALL GOING TO MISS YOU VERY MUCH.




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