My Dad's Life Sketch

This is what I read at my Father's funeral, January 7, 2011

Kennon Duane Laird was born January 23, 1935 in Olton,  Texas to George Dubert Laird and Sabra Lois Williams.

Dad and his family lived in Texas until he reached the age of 7 years old.  His family moved to California and at that time his family consisted of his parents and younger brother Eldon.  My dad said, “We lived in Pomona long enough for me to fall from a walnut tree.  I fell on my head and almost killed myself.  Once again, I had done something Dad told me not to do, that was ‘don’t climb the trees’!”

April 12, 1942 my Dad and his family moved to Cypress, California.  He went to elementary school in Cypress and graduated Anaheim High School in 1953.  He was a football player, participated in 4H as well as Future Farmers of America.  He attended Cal Poly for 3 years until he met and married Ramona Marie Blevins.  They married April 12, 1957. They had three children: Karen Marie, LaDonna Jean and Roger Duane.

Dad and his young family lived in Cypress, Lawndale and later settled in Redondo Beach for approx. 14 years.  Many times missionaries came to our home.  My Dad’s grandmother, my great-grandmother, was a member of the Church, and my parents suspected that she had something to do with the missionaries coming.  However, my mother shooed the missionaries away on numerous occasions.  In October 1968 the missionaries came to our home and to my mother’s surprise or dismay…my dad invited the missionaries in.  Before the elders left, my parents invited them back.  When they left my mother asked, “Why did you let them in?”  My Dad said, “I don’t know…I just did.”  December 21, 1968 (2 months later) our family was baptized and confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Elder Bill Cook and Elder Lee England.  My brother was baptized years later by my father.  February 21, 1970 our family was sealed as an eternal family in the Los Angeles Temple. 

Our family absorbed the gospel and we grew as a family.  Dad especially loved working with the youth and in the Scouting program.  He loved camping with his family, scouts and his son.  I know Dad and Roger had fond memories of being together.  Dad was famous for making homemade ice cream and bringing it to church activities and later became known as Brother Ice Cream.   I remember my dad always being there for anyone who needed any type of help, especially anything that needed to be repaired.  Dad had a wealth of knowledge and if he didn’t know about it…he read and learned about it.  He enjoyed reading books about how to fix things, anything military and about trucks, especially the 1956 Ford Truck.

As a youth my Dad had many jobs, ranging from butchering and delivering chickens at Lucan’s poultry to throwing hundreds of pounds of watermelons into the back of a truck.  Dad worked for Standard Oil for many years, later he became a catering truck driver and a perfectionist as a handyman.  Dad was in the National Guard for 17 years and was a Master Sergeant.  When in the guard you are required to give 2 weeks for training.  At one of the guard camps he was cleaning his 45.  Unfortunately it wasn’t properly unloaded and went off and shot his left middle finger off.  It was reattached and the one thing Dad was proud of was that he had an asymmetrical peace sign.  His middle finger was the same length as his index finger.  He had fun showing it off.

Our family lived in Redondo Beach, California until the summer of 1976 when we moved to Mesa.  My father built his first home himself near Greenfield and Brown.  He was so proud of his accomplishments unfortunately he did not get to live there very long due to getting divorced, after almost 22 years of marriage.  I know from listening to my Dad that he loved my mother to the very end.  He never remarried, yes he had lady friends, but in my heart I know he loved my mother.  He even had her picture at his bedside.

In 1981, my Dad was not here in Arizona.  He was in Tennessee for about 10 years and we did not get the opportunity to see or visit with him.  During these 10 years he became a poet and artist.  Out in the foyer you will see a display of his artwork and a book of his collection of poems, quotes and stories.  On the inside of the program is one of his poems.

In the early 90’s he returned to California to care for his mother until her passing in 1996.  Later in the mid to late 90’s he began doing wood work.  He made LaDonna and I a rolled top jewelry box and I believe Alisa has one too.  He also made boxes that he pieced together.  He loved working with the wood and enjoyed giving them as gifts to family and friends.  I remember the last few boxes he gave away, one to his Cardiologist and another to his Family Practice Doctor.  It brought him joy giving these boxes away and there are some examples of his boxes on display as well.  During this time he also became involved in Kung Fu.  He loved going to Kung Fu and greeting the entire class by shaking their hands.  He had fun sparing with other students perfecting his moves.  Dad liked to show people how to get out of sticky situations by doing simple moves.  He had a lot of fun with his Kung Fu.  Dad was a 7^th degree black belt.  Today we were given a certificate from Master Larry, Dad is now a Kung Fu Master.

Dad was known for his stories and jokes.  One story he told often took place during the Watts riots in Southern California.  The National Guard was called into active duty and this was a very scary time.  On one patrol, he and his platoon were securing a neighborhood.  One of the guards saw something and my dad went to secure the area with the other guard.  Once the area was secured, my dad noticed that the platoon was nowhere to be found because he forgot to halt them.  So, he said to the other guard, “You go on the other side of the street to cover me and I’ll stay on this side to cover you.”  The guard responded and said, “Hey Sarge, spread out and look like a platoon.” 

When Dad smiled his eyes twinkled and his face lit up.  You could see pure joy in his face.  My Dad was a happy man with a positive disposition.  He was also a very sensitive man.  If he heard a sad story or a story about love, he would tear up and cry. 

In March 2005, my sister, Ladonna and I moved Dad back to Mesa.  During these 5 1/2 plus years each of us children have been given the opportunity to be with our father.  I can tell you that my Dad was a social butterfly, he never met a stranger.  He was kind, friendly, sensitive and loved going out to lunch.  His favorite restaurant is Garcia’s over here on Gilbert and University.  When he was able to, he would ride his scooter to Garcia’s and eat by himself or he would go out with someone, either me, LaDonna, Roger or one his friends.  Going to lunch was the highlight of his day.  I think one reason he enjoyed it so much was that he was able to do his random act of kindness.  He would look around the restaurant or ask us to look for someone that we could buy their meal (for the entire table).  He would give Juana, his favorite server, a card that read, “You have just been treated to a random act of kindness.  Your meal has been paid for. Your only obligation is to give the server a generous tip.  Have a nice day.  A Friend”.  Dad would pay the bill and wait to see the people’s reaction.  As his eyesight deteriorated he would ask us to tell him what the reactions were.  He loved doing this.  It was his way of giving back.  When family and friends came to visit, he would ask if they’ve ever had fried ice cream and if they hadn’t he would introduce it to them when he took them to Garcia’s.  I want to thank Garcia’s for all the candy mints that Dad put into his pockets!  He was known to give out mints during church to his friends and tossing them across the aisle to families in the ward.  So a big thank you to Garcia’s for funding his mint habit!  And about 2 weeks before his passing he said to me, “I want to go to Garcia’s”. 

These past few months were difficult yet Dad stayed positive, you never saw him get down in the dumps.  He loved his caregivers and they loved him.  They would tell me, “He’s a sweet man” or one would say to him, “Hey, Karate kid how are you doing today?”  He loved the visits from family and friends.  I know it made his days go better and it boosted him up. 

Over these past few months Dad and I had a little competition going.  I would say, “I love you” and he would say, “I love you more”.  And each time I came he would say, “I love you more” or “I love you more, more, more” before I could say, “I love you”.  So finally one day I said, “Dad, I love you more than the stars in the sky!”  He said, “Wow, that’s a lot of stars” and started to cry.

My dad loved his family, his Ward family, his Kung Fu family and his friends.  He loved the gospel and was striving to do what is right. 

Kennon Duane Larid passed away Dec 31, 2010 and is survived by his children: Karen Pelley, LaDonna Magnusson and Roger Laird; his 7 grandchildren; Justin Magnusson, 
Landon Magnusson, Alisa Magnusson, Heidi Magnusson, Danelle Laird, Darian Laird and Derek Laird; and his 2 great-grandchildren; Zachary Magnusson and Aurelie Magnusson.