FROM THE NORTH SHORE

San Pancho News
By: Elvia & Geno Lamphiear – August 2008

Hola!,

Well, an end of an era has arrived here in San Pancho. A dear friend of ours has passed away...

Lawrence "Larry/Lorenzo" Katsel - Larry died unexpectedly on July 8th, 2008 at age 73.  He is survived by his wife, Nancy and 3 children, Kathy Boeholt (husband Randy) of Anacortes, Kelly Katsel of Bellingham and Roy Katsel. He had 2 grandchildren Sarah Katsel of Bellingham and Justin Katsel (wife Michelle) of Puyallup and 2 great grandchildren. Larry also leaves behind his family through his marriage to Nancy; Cathy; Janeen (husband Jerry Heglin - and their children and grandchild) of Anacortes; Denise (husband Greg Ahles) of Lake Stevens; and Dennis of Alger. Larry was born on May 25th, 1935 in Spokane, WA, graduated from North Central High, received a degree from WSU and a Masters degree from UW.  His main employer was IBM.   He lived between Anacortes, Washington, USA and San Francisco (San Pancho), Nayarit, Mexico the last 20 years. A celebration of his life was held at 2 pm on July 27th at the Elks Lodge in Anacortes, Washington, USA – and simultaneously as well at the Palapas Las Iguanas in San Francisco (San Pancho), Nayarit, Mexico.

Larry & Nancy lived in one of the first casas built in the Costa Azul Residential Area. Casa Lorenzo is the casa on the beach just to the south of the Costa Azul Resort. Larry and Nancy spent a lot of time during the past 20 years or so at Casa Lorenzo and they became quite famous for their parties at Costa Azul - and for their after hours parties next door at their Casa Lorenzo as well!  Larry also loved music and would help the local San Pancho musicians out by buying them instruments to play and providing Casa Lorenzo as a place in which to practice.

A little history… I (Geno) knew Larry and Nancy for many years in my hometown of Anacortes, Washington.  We both belonged to the Elks Club and saw each other quite often at different functions the lodge sponsored. I play music and had teamed up with a wild keyboard player named Randy Boeholt back in the early 90´s.  About a year later, Randy told me he had met the woman of his dreams and planned on marrying her… Come to find out it was Larry´s daughter, Kathy (small world)!

Time went on and in the year 2000, I found myself going through a difficult time...  Randy & his wife, Kathy, grabbed me and dragged me to Mexico… I fell in love with the area and emailed my boss (the president of the company I worked for) telling him that; “all of the flights out of Mexico were grounded for another week… see ya.”  Then - during that next week - I met Elvia… When I told Randy & Kathy and Larry & Nancy about Elvia, they all about fell over!!  Come to find out, Elvia had witnessed Larry & Nancy’s wedding for them many years ago – and in accordance with the Mexican tradition, Elvia became Larry & Nancy´s God-daughter (even smaller world)!!!

So, in a BIG way, I have Larry to thank for setting up the sequence of events that have led me to Elvia - and to come to live in San Pancho!  THANK YOU LARRY!!! Email to a friend

Until next time

Elvia & Geno
E-mail: genolamphiear@hotmail.com

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* This information is provided by María Elvia Garcia Palomera & Geno Lamphiear, owners of Calandria Realty in San Francisco (San Pancho), Nayarit, Mexico

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