Kay and I made a whirlwind trip to the Houston area Thursday for a couple of those emotional, affirming events that bring so much meaning and fulfillment to life. The purpose of our trip was twofold.
Our first stop was Klein United Methodist Church in Spring, where I attended a celebration of life for Adam Joseph LaFrancis, the remarkable, courageous 33-year-old son of my Conroe High School friend and fellow Tiger Band member David LaFrancis (he was a gifted French Horn player). Adam, who was missing two of his heart’s four chambers when he was born in January 1992 (along with other congenital defects), passed away in April after a heart transplant he’d needed for years and finally received. The operation went smoothly, but Adam’s other organs weren’t able to handle his new heart.
The second stage of our trip that lasted less than 14 hours was a meetup with another dear high school friend, Karen Allen Jackson, and her parents Pat and Bill. Karen was the bestie (not sure I’ve ever used that word!) and fellow clarinet player without whose support, encouragement and presence, along with that of Pat and Bill, I might not have been able to endure the wrenching emotional and, at times, physical abuse my mother Olga put us through almost daily. (And remember, my brother Isaac and I didn’t find out we were adopted until 1981, when I was in college at Texas A&M).
Both gatherings brought me to moments of tears.
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Although I never had the honor of meeting Adam, I’ve been Facebook friends with David and his wife Ellen (also a CHS classmate) forever and feel like I’ve known both Adam and his younger brother Matt all along. As I told David and my wife, I’m in awe at the amount of life Adam lived and the number of people he brought into his circle in his barely three decades – all with a bum heart that could’ve easily given out much sooner. As his father wrote, Adam “didn’t allow his health issues to limit or define him.” During his early life, he defined courage and perseverance in withstanding several major surgeries and other procedures.
Adam spent his life relishing in his passions, especially aviation, photography, travel and sports. He flew all over the world, including once on a Boeing 787 in the first week of service for the United Airlines jet after watching the planes being built at Boeing. He loved NASA and attended a launch of space shuttle Atlantis at the Kennedy Space Center when he was 4 in 1996 and later met astronaut Shannon Lucid, who was on that flight.
Also at age 4, Adam met one of the Apollo 11 heroes, Buzz Aldrin, still living today at 95. David told those gathered at Thursday’s celebration of life that Buzz’s policy at events like the one Adam and his family attended was to not shake hands with those waiting to see him. But when he caught a glimpse of the cute little boy in his NASA jumpsuit, he couldn’t help but reach for Adam’s hand.
Adam took five trips to Hawaii and toured Pearl Harbor, where his grandfather Joe LaFrancis was stationed after the start of World War II, and he stood on the edge of the Kilauea volcano. He also traveled to Europe four times, including Paris, London and Spain, and he went to the island of St. Maarten. As David listed all these destinations during his beautiful tribute to his first-born, I was amazed to hear how much adventure Adam packed into his 33 years.
And when it came to sports teams, Adam loved the Houston Astros, Houston Texans, Calgary Flames, and the Sam Houston State University Bearkats.
In recent years, Adam’s heart began to give out and it was clear he needed a donor organ to continue living, a prospect he embraced wholeheartedly. He waited for his miracle in the hospital for five weeks, and when it came, as David wrote, Adam and his family “were all so excited along with him to see the other side of life right in front of him … just within his grasp. Waiting to live like he had never been able to before.”
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Soon after, Kay and I joined Karen and her folks for an early dinner at the assisted living facility where Pat and Bill live north of Houston, not far from where Adam’s celebration of life was held. We’d last seen Karen in 2023 but hadn’t seen her parents in seven or eight years. They’d been living in remote eastern New Mexico for many years but moved not long ago to be close to Karen and her husband Jim. Karen’s two daughters are in their early 30s and have four young children between them – with another on the way later this year!
Not long after we sat down, Pat told me how proud she was of me for having overcome so many challenges at home as a youngster and built such a great life with a wonderful family. As she went on to talk about my being like a second son to her (Karen has a younger brother, Mark), that’s when I started to lose it. Pat shared similar sentiments later in our visit, which lasted nearly three hours. I told them I’ll always be grateful for everything the Allen family did to help me push through an extremely tumultuous period of my life.
Karen’s parents will both be 87 this year, and getting this chance to see them meant so much to me. So when Kay and I were getting ready to leave early Thursday and I started having one of my recurrent episodes of back spasms – which can last a week or two – Kay asked if I wanted to cancel the trip. I said absolutely not. I had no idea what I’d done to set off this $@%&*^! flare-up and knew a nearly four-hour drive would be less than ideal, but I could tell this was going to be one of the “bad” ones. Although the pain got worse as the day went along, especially while standing, I was too engaged with the LaFrancis family and friends and the Allen family to let it ruin the day.
RIP to Robert Acrey, who was a year behind us in school and wrote the hilarious caption as a member of the Flare yearbook staff.Today while working from home, I’m wearing my back brace, which has helped. I just hope that by the time Kay and I fly to Boston next Wednesday (a rare trip for us) to see historic sights and catch my Astros in two games against the Red Sox, this pain will have subsided.
God bless these two families. We send all our love to you all. ❤❤❤
A Life of Words 