The week was going great until I received a phone call.
"Larry Brown died this morning of a heart attack", my mom told me.
I was in shock. Instantly saddened. Tears instantly flowing.
I had just spoke to him on facebook last week for my birthday. He had told me "Happy Birthday Baby Girl".
Larry was our former town mayor in Kernersville. He was also a member of the NC House of Representatives. He gave over 30 years of his life to being a public servant.
He was perhaps, the most influential person I had ever known. I called him "pops'. We had a inside joke that we shared that he was secretly my father and my mom had kicked him to the curb. Of course, this was not true. Just light hearted fun but I loved him as though he was Pops. My mom and sister were also very close to him.
In 1997, my first husband abandoned me with a 3 year old Jonathan and 2 year old Justin --just 7 weeks before Christmas. Larry quietly gave me $100 dollars and refused a payback. He wanted my boys to have a nice Christmas. He would never let me tell anyone about this charitable donation because he didn't want people to think he did it for attention or for the wrong reasons.
He was always there ready to dispense sound advice to me. Whether it was about state funding for Jonathan's college or when I needed help writing letters to Senators about the housing crisis, I always knew I could turn to Larry for the best advice.
He was fiscally sound and despised wasted money. You could guarantee that if Larry was in charge of something, it would be done correctly and on budget. Even if you disagreed with him, he was a true southern gentleman. He worked tirelessly to improve the state of NC and the city of Kernersville.
He was up for re-election this May but lost on a 3 person primary ballot. It didn't help his district had been eliminated. I wrote to him and told him that God must have something bigger in store for him. I didn't know it would be Heaven. But that is where I am sure he is now.
I will miss you Larry. You were so much more than just a friend to me. You were family. you were "pops". My mom should have never kicked you to the curb because you were the finest person to grace our lives. We will miss you so much!
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