William Deveraux Ward

In the years to come, about 5-10 years later Lawrence invited my sister Judy and I to go and fill bullets full of shot at his special firing range. It certainly sounded exciting to me! We would sit around one afternoon and fill up all the cartridges. We would then, the next day go to the firing range and practice hitting clay doves. Then there was something very special that happened; We were looking directly west in the afternoon sun and Lawrence told us a story that you will always see a green flash just before the sun goes under the horizon, if you look really closely. We would stand there looking at the sun, waiting for it to turn from red or yellow to green. I didn’t see it, but it was one of those things, that he was always involving people in experimenting. Green flash or not, we were enthralled with this man! Around this time we also used to go out hunting on horseback with him. One day he rode his horse up beside me and said: ”Josie, I’m going to call myself Millfrog. What do you want to be called?”

He involved us in a lot of new things, and even in adulthood, going out for a picnic at his ranch was a real feast. Under that big tree of theirs, we’ve had such wonderful picnics in recent times. What interested me so much is that in spite of being so busy and having so much to do, he always found time for his relatives, friends and neighbors (like the Tuesday night parties). He has been such a fantastic host and encourager with a great sense of sharing. These stories give a glimpse of what an amazing and generous personality Lawrence had throughout his life, part of what made him such a fascinating person to know. – Lawrence, we are deeply missing you!”