Letters: Lafayette Loses Larry – The “Mayor Of Burton Valley”

Editor;

We were so very sad to hear that one of Lafayette’s truest “characters” has passed.

Larry Cole was a genuine man with a gentle heart who presided over the family holdings at Glenside and Augustine. We got to know one another after this site profiled him many years ago (thanks 24/680 for the information on his passing, we know you were being respectful) and we talked many times over the interim years.

Larry, for all those who knew him, liked to sit outside the family residence while Lafayette “grew up” around his family homestead talking about “the old days” with those who cared to stop and decorating his home for Halloween and the Fourth of July. Larry liked to talk about mechanical things, local history, his ancestors and their time here, his great grandfather settling on Augustine Lane.

Over our time here we came to look for Larry whenever we passed, always sitting on his porch, smiling and waving when we drove by or stopping to talk when we were out for a walk, even after we moved. He was always pleasant and engaging and we came away smiling after our meetings.

We were away when he passed and we grew concerned when we didn’t see him outside his home. The touching memorial put up by neighbors outside his home left no doubt.

We couldn’t let his passing go unmentioned. He was a good man, a part of Lafayette, and we will miss him.

Sharon Powell/Walnut Creek