Larry Lawrence Memorial Senior Circle

The Larry Lawrence Memorial Senior Circle

by Ken Hecker, Saxon Shield Staff, Loara Class of 1966

In the middle of campus are a few bricks and some cement, surrounded by pavers. As of this writing there is still a bronze plaque mounted on a roughly-poured block of concrete near the center of that "circle". It was once a circle, but now, as of a month or so ago, appears more like a hexagon. Half the original bricks are gone, as walls have become a seating area. But let's look back at what this "circle" was, or was meant to be.

Larry Lawrence (Wayne Lowell Lawrence Jr.) was Loara's first Senior Class President. Class of 1965.

He was also an athlete (quarterback and pitcher for the baseball team). Larry was the main force in developing plans for a Senior Circle, an area where Seniors could go to socialize, eat lunch, and study. It would give them something to be proud of, and to look forward to, year after year. 

This overhead view was the original vision for the Senior Circle. Vertical surfaces would be red brick, and it would be raised approximately one and one-half feet above the surrounding pavement, have three ramps up to the center of the Circle, and have raised lawns, trees, and shrubs. In the center would be a fountain. 

It appears that by the end of the 1965 school year, the plans had changed. I suspect that money was the main concern, and so the brick walls were shortened to about one quarter their original length, and the height-above-grade of the Circle decreased to about six inches. Larry seems to have replaced the long brick walls with brick pillars and a chain around the Senior Circle. 

A computer-generated model shows how the original design might have appeared. 

During the summer of 1965, Larry Lawrence died while attempting to save two women, members of a tour group he was with, who were caught in heavy surf off the coast of Italy on June 30th. 

Medaglia D'Argento Al Valore Civile

Fort Rosecrans

At home, shocked Loara alumni and present students were brought together for a memorial service. At the time we were told that Larry's body was never found, but his niece, Erin Armstrong, has told me that he was found four days later. Larry was awarded the Medaglia D'Argento Al Valore Civile, which is Italy's second highest civilian award for bravery. Larry's family was invited to the Italian Embassy in Washington, D.C. in the spring of 1966 to accept the award on behalf of Larry. 

Larry is buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, San Diego, California. 

Construction began on the Larry Lawrence Memorial Senior Circle in 1965, and was dedicated before Loara's first Homecoming Game. 

ASB President John Longtin presided over the dedication ceremonies. 

John Longtin dedication to Larry Lawrence

Leonard Rumery &
Principal O.G. Thomason

Construction, by L.B. Penhall, continued off and on for several years.

Penhall Trucks hit the campus

Plans were made to replace the fountain at the center of the Senior Circle with a statue of a Saxon.  The class of 1969 proclaimed that they would finish the Senior Circle. Included was a promise to future Seniors of a place of their own. 

It seemed those pesky corner bricks just wouldn't stay put.  (see a few photos down)

In an article from the Saxon Shield from November 6, 1970, we see another promise made to students about the Senior Circle in their future. 

Before the Sammy statue as the Circle was being built.

Late in the 1960s a statue, built under the leadership of Metalshop instructor Ronald Tracy, with help from Loara's Art Department head, Wilber Ahlvers, was finally added. 

Sammy being built

In the early 2000s this was the lovely scene of the Larry Lawrence Memorial Senior Circle. Grass and large shade trees (which a satellite view from 2010 shows were still there). Picnic tables and benches for sitting. The statue, affectionately referred to as "Sammy" standing at the center, behind the bronze plaque that still proclaims the "LARRY LAWRENCE MEMORIAL SENIOR CIRCLE." 

Saxon Shield 11.6.70

Problem was, when the Anaheim Union High School District changed to four year high schools (originally all AUHSD high schools were three year institutions, and junior highs were three years, including Freshmen), there were only three "courts" for students. Where to put the new Freshmen? The school gave them the Circle. 

The Original Concept

What it became, although notice pesky corner bricks not staying (oddly enough a problem that continued.

After Sammy's dedication

Sammy early in the 2000's notice the grass and high walls

Sammy surrounded by pavers, the brick walls are the next to go

The Death of the Senior Circle?

In the spring of 2012 many of the trees on campus were marked for removal. We of the new Loara Saxons Alumni Association were led to believe by the school district that this was simply landscaping. When faculty and students returned from the summer to prepare for the new school year (2013), they found the Circle had lost half its brick, as the walls were turned into support for seating areas. What we'd been told was upgrading of the Circle had turned into the destruction of any personality it had. Areas where trees had been planted were squared off with cinder block to create raised planters, losing any semblance of a "circle." 

Senior Circle September 2012

Brick walls are lowered to create more seating 

What I believe is that the Larry Lawrence Memorial Senior Circle, or as Larry would have expected it to be called, "The Senior Circle" was doomed from the start. It lost its meaning over the years - from our not being able to come up with enough money to build it as large as envisioned (maybe if there had been alumni to help out, it could have happened, but we were the first), to its being placed in the middle of the open area... 

Ariel view after modernization prior to trees being removed in the summer of 2012

(see the tiny circle in the satellite view) of campus, where, after another building was added, it could never be expanded, to the Students of Loara finally coming to a point of not having a clue what it meant to them, or anyone else. 

Now, forty-six years later, all that is left are some bricks, and a bronze plaque with the name of someone no one apparently cares about - except we, the earliest Loara Saxon alumni. 

When Pam Krey attended her first Fall Athletic banquet as Loara's Principal, she found the coaches awarding a trophy named after Mike Carr. Now Mike (class of '65 and a great member of the football team) did die in 1966, but not, as the coaches believed, trying to save two women caught in heavy surf in Italy. They had confused one Loara Saxon with another. Again, no one had a clue. Pam, who had lived it, corrected that immediately, but I have no idea how long it had been going on. Now I'm told that journalism students have never heard of the Saxon Shield, which hopefully will be revived this year. 

How would Larry Lawrence feel about all this? He'd probably say "It's their school, let them decide." And he'd be right. This is a school district which shows more pride in a high percentage of its students qualifying for the Assisted Lunch Program than in traditions that keep a school strong. 

I've coined an expression. It goes like this: "Tradition is something to add to, not replace." Sadly, the Senior Circle has been replaced with a seating area. Next! 

(note: this was written by a graduate of Loara High School, I did not edit the document in opinion, feeling or tone)