Celebrant Pam Meily Vetter


	Celebrating Life Everyone Has A Story...

Lauro Martel was born in Durango, Mexico, to Elena and Juan Martel in 1919. He was raised with five sisters: Paula, Esther, Isabel, Alice and Josephine. When Lauro was young, the family migrated to the Los Angeles area. Lauro graduated from high school in Los Angeles and voluntarily joined the United States Army during World War II. He served for four years with the Army Engineers in Portugal, helping to build runways for the military. It was easy for him to understand Portuguese because he spoke Spanish, so he also worked as a Portuguese interpreter. After his service in the Army, he returned home to Los Angeles and he quickly gained work in auto repair as a body and fender specialist.

His life changed forever when he met his best friend's sister, Aurora. The couple started dating. They worked hard all week long and then spent Saturday getting ready for dancing Saturday night at the Aragon Ballroom in downtown Los Angeles. They loved Big Band music and going dancing. There were amazing stories of family, parties and socializing. When Aurora converted to Pentecostalism, Lauro joined her in the religion. The couple became engaged and later married in a Pentecostal church ceremony in 1954. The couple was devoted to going to church and attending church gatherings. They were spiritual with their Pentecostal foundation and their beliefs were a blessing in their lives. The couple did everything together. Aurora didn't drive, so Lauro happily chauffeured her wherever she wanted to go. Two years after the couple married, Aurora and Lauro experienced their greatest joy with the birth of their daughter, Laura. Aurora and Lauro embraced their roles as parents. Lauro also helped raise his step-son, Arthur, and loved him as his own.

While Aurora offered structure for their daughter, Lauro was a wonderful father, who was always the life of the party. He loved entertaining. When he took Laura out trick-or-treating for Halloween, he was fun. He'd dress as Charlie Chaplin in a little suit with the eyebrows, bowler hat and cane. He had witty ways of saying things that made people smile. Lauro loved to laugh and enjoyed life. He also shared his love of music with Laura, as he encouraged and supported her piano lessons. For 10 years, he faithfully drove her every Thursday night to her $3 piano lessons. To this day, she plays beautifully on the piano, because of those lessons.

With a love of family time and the outdoors, Lauro took the family camping in a tent every August to South Lake in Bishop and later, the family enjoyed King's Canyon for camping and fishing. When Lauro took Laura fishing, he'd place her in a safe spot to fish. Then he'd find his own spot but close enough where he could keep a watchful eye on her. While Lauro was serious about his fishing and took pride in having his fancy "Colorado Spinner", Laura put cheese and salmon eggs on her simple hook and just when Lauro would get settled into his fishing spot, she'd wave him over to take the trout that she caught off of the hook. Laura once caught three trout for their dinner. Aurora always had the frying pan ready when they arrived back to camp.

For the entire family, Christmas was a wonderful holiday because in the Latin world, food was so important, and Aurora was a wonderful cook. The family always enjoyed making tamales and holiday cooking.

When Laura married Dave, Lauro became a wonderful father-in-law. He adored Dave and they got along so well. Lauro wanted to do things for them, and since he took great pride in his own lawn and Bonsai trees, he found a way to give back and help when they bought their house. Every Friday, for 6 years, Lauro, who was in his 80's, mowed the lawn for Laura and Dave and honestly, it hasn't looked the same since he stopped a few years ago. Laura believes Dave was the greatest gift she ever gave her father, because Dave was the apple of his eye. Lauro loved to entertain Dave with stories.

There were many fun events over the years, but one of the most amazing gifts Aurora and Lauro received was for a special anniversary. The family sent the couple on a beautiful trip to Maui, Hawaii, for their 25th wedding anniversary. It was a special trip and so different from their days of camping, as they stayed at an amazing, luxurious hotel for a week. Years later, when Lauro retired, Arthur also held a big retirement party at his home to celebrate the occasion.

Family was always Lauro's priority. When Aurora was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, Lauro nursed her and was devoted to her. He even put her makeup on for her. Truly, Lauro was a man of honor as he took care of Aurora. When she passed away 14 years ago, it was difficult.

Eventually, Lauro found a way to move forward. As he was a people person, he spent a lot of time socializing with friends and he went back to dancing. Lauro was also a wonderful storyteller, who loved having women around him. He liked talking to his waitresses and simply enjoyed being around people. He had many favorites in life. For dancing, his favorite music was Merengue and Latin music at Stevens Steak House. For his reading pleasure, he loved reading his Louis L'Amour Westerns. At home, he loved making a great cup of coffee, but he hated Starbucks. When he went out, he always carried his calling cards and gave them to friends and acquaintances. Lauro had beautiful handwriting and he loved calligraphy.

When he was working as a body and fender man, Lauro saw a young man named Dan start work as a parts guy. He noticed Dan because he saw that he was a very sharp young man. Dan went on to open his own Bay Cities Auto Body shop, he hired Lauro as a metal man and that's where he retired from after 40 years of being in the auto body repair world. In retirement, his favorite hobby was restoring cars such as the orange Camaro, the VW Squareback, the Ranchero, and the Carmen Ghia, which he was still working on. Over the last decade, he drove his 1969 lime green Camaro, that Laura and Dave could see glowing in his driveway on Google Earth.

In recent years, he was close with Gloria Infante, who became his "reina". She knew him as her hero, a Spanish gentleman, and called him "caballero." When Gloria moved to Florida a few years ago, he flew to visit her several times. She'd also come to visit right after Christmas as they had great celebrations on New Years and enjoyed dancing to Spanish and Latin music at Stevens Steak House. Lauro loved dancing. In fact, he was dancing the Saturday before he passed away and that is the way his family will remember him… dancing until the end. The last time his daughter saw him, they gave each other a hug and said, "I love you." Laura will miss her father's powerful presence and hearing his stories. He was so very proud of everything Laura accomplished in her life and she will carry his love of life and spirited energy with her.

With many titles in life including son, brother, husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, Lauro was known as "Marty" at home or "Laurito" at the club. His advice to everyone: "Don't ever get old." It was something he advised regularly. Lauro Martel, who lived life simply, will be remembered as generous, light-hearted, and a man who loved life. He was a colorful piece of everyone's life and he will be remembered with smiles.

Memorial donations are welcome in Lauro Martel's name to the National Parkinson Foundation www.parkinson.org.