Extracted from The Ruston Daily Leader (Ruston, LA)
John Hayden LaRue
John Hayden LaRue, 87, died Saturday, April 9, 2005 at Longleaf Nursing Home in Ruston, La after several years of declining health. The Rev. Rolly Walker at the Kilpatrick Funeral Home in Ruston will conduct services in honor of Mr. LaRue on Friday, April 15th at 10 a.m. with burial to follow in the Greenwood Cemetery. The family will receive friends Thursday evening from 5-8 p.m. at the funeral home.
He was born in Springfield, Mo. on December 31, 1917. He was the son of the late Fay Allen and William Cannon LaRue. The LaRue family raised throughbred horses in Missouri. Fay Allen LaRue brought up John LaRue along with his two siblings during the depression after the death of her husband durng the 1919 flu epidemic. He came to Ruston under the direction of his mother to take care of his widowed aunt, Mrs. Kitty Glover. Kitty Glover taught Greek and Latin at Louisiana Polytechnic Institute and she was Clerk of Court in Lincoln Parish. After arriving he began attending La. Tech where he graduated in 1940 Summa Cum Laude. He married Elaine Milam LaRue and lived in Ruston for most of his life. Mr. LaRue served in the US Air Force Reserves for 20 years during the Cold War era as a Lt. Col. He entered the Air Corp and was aon active duty from 1941 until 1945. He was a bomber pilot and flight instructor for B-25s during World War II and later served in air sea rescue, flying the PBY. From 1947 to 1957, John LaRue worked as the managing director of the M. S. Carroll Company having offices in Ruston and New Orleans. The company built pipelines and power high lines throughout Louisiana and the south.
After leaving Carroll he became a well-respected independent insurance and real estate broker, developing the first shopping centers in Ruston and developed propertiess in other parts of the country. John LaRue always kept a show pony behind the Victorian home he had converted to an office, as a surprise for the children of parents moving to Ruston looking for a home. From time to time, he would take the back seat out of his car load the pony in and drive it out to the grandkids for a ride.
Aunt Kit was the champion of the underdog, this so inspired John LaRue, that he embraced this mentally for the balance of his life. He gave money, deed and service to any person that popped up before him without the need for acclaim from anyone or any organization. Caring not for the acclaim but only for the help of the one that was in need. Thoughout his life he never lost his love of God, country, animals, horses, and of those in dire need and down trodden, always giving his time, services and money, and never asking for reward or acclaim. John LaRue was always singing or whistling church songs from memory, those songs of attrition and atonement about God and Jesus with one clear call of redemption. He will be missed by all and without a doubt he is in heaven at the comfort of the saints and angels above.
Mr. LaRue is survived by his first wife Elaine Milam Larue and their children: Renee LaRue Hilburn and husband Sam in Shreveport, Jean LaRue Rini of New Orleans and John Hayden LaRue, Jr. and Samantha Kennedy of Houston, Texas. His grandchildren are Cary Hilburn and wife Jennifer and Marcie Hilburn Harner and husband Ryan of Shreveport, Elisa Ricca Draper and husband Robert of Rye, NY, Elizabeth Ricca Huete and husband James of Atlanta, Ga. Nancy Ricca Meyerowitz and husband Steve of Ridgefield, Ct. Victor Rini and wife Monique of New Orleans, Anthony Rini and wife Misti, and Zachery Rini of Atlanta, Ga., John Hayden LaRue III, Maxwell LaRue and MaryGrace Elaine LaRue of Houston, Tx. and 15 great-grandchildren and four nieces. His second wife Dr. Dorie LaRue and their son Michael LaRue of Shreveport also survive him. He was preceded in death by his brother William LaRue and sister Sue LaRue Adkinson.
Thursday, April 14, 2005