A Look From The Past
by Lexi Deming
As I walked into Colonel Town the first person I saw was a sweet man. Little did I know that's who I was fortunate enough to interview. I remember the first words he said were, “Wow, those are different than what we had back in our day!” while pointing to a pair of basketball shoes on the bench. March 12, 2019 I found out having a heart to heart conversation with an old man that I’ve never met before would have an impact on my life. Larry is a sweet, hardworking man who would never fail to give a helping hand.
Who knew that at a young age you could find your passion? For Larry this all happened at the age of 19. In 1964 he moved to the small town of Lancaster, New Hampshire from Dover. Later on he married his sweet, caring wife, Anne Downs, and had two amazing kids. When their son was diagnosed with leukemia at 13 they received many opportunities to explore different areas. They got Disney tickets donated so they could go as a family and have fun together before everything changed. Sadly their son died, but Larry said, “He lived longer than we thought and knew it was coming. He took it better than us.” Anne and Larry have overcome many obstacles and have been together for years.
Larry showed me the true meaning of the phrase “we live in such a small world.” He was sharing his memories of being a meat cutter and one phrase stuck with me: Lisbon, New Hampshire. Immediately I made a connection with a man I’ve never met in my entire life. Hearing Larry describe his work place truly showed me that people can stay the same over time while the world around them changes.
If you’ve ever been to Lisbon, New Hampshire, you would know that it’s full of people that are always looking out for others and willing to give a helping hand. As Larry said “everyone knows everyone and everyone is always visiting.” Hardly anything has changed since Larry’s career. As you walk on the brand new wood floors through the narrow aisles, reading the labels of packages you can hear the hot oil sizzling from the homemade chicken chunks. The scent of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies lingers around the store. Even with the minor employee change and name of the business you still see everyone talking about the rumors while getting their daily lunch made fresh at the deli.
Larry taught me many life lessons, but the one that will always stick with me is “never think about not doing something because you fear something bad will happen. You only live once and you should take advantage of that.”