How a stranger's last chapter reinforced my calling
Larry found me in the most serendipitous way. He replied to my first-ever Facebook ad for Heritage Stories on the very first day it was live. Unlike other clients, he knew what he wanted immediately. He wanted a video chronicling his life as a progressive educator in Cambridge, MA.
Larry knew he was terminally ill when he reached out in late April of 2026. He thought he had about a year to live. It would end up being closer to three months. Initially, while there was the idea that time was limited, there wasn't yet an urgency. That changed in early July when he developed a severe infection and was given only weeks. Suddenly, the project morphed from a couple of sit-down interviews into spending nearly three weeks with Larry in hospice.
During that incredibly special time, I sat with him and the many people who came to shower him with love and appreciation. Larry taught many people who went on to live lives in the public sphere: famous actors, professional athletes, and many Cambridge politicians. He also taught thousands of others who went on to live service-focused lives, many in public school classrooms. Dozens of former students, colleagues and friends visited, and the energy in the room was joyous despite why people were there. People discussed education, their families, the state of the world, their summer vacations.
I went in to document a life. I came out with validation for what this work is really for.
Larry knew he lived an impactful life, and that allowed him to focus on the love surrounding him, and not that he was in his final days. He taught me how I can only hope to leave this world. He cared so deeply about sharing his story, and at the end of each day, regardless of how well he was feeling that day, he would ask me if I would return the next day. I always did.
Larry passed on August 1, and his friends and family now have a memorial video that they can return to whenever they want. I was so honored to be able to help him tell his story. I'm just sorry Larry never got to see the video himself.