Lawrence Aschenbrenner
Aug 16, 1930 -
Sep 5, 2020
Lawrence Alden Aschenbrenner, "Lare," 90, passed away on Sept. 5, 2020, at home peacefully in his sleep surrounded by family in Anchorage, Alaska. Lare led a good life, had many close friend, and left the world a better place.
He was born in Spokane, Wash. His parents, Edward and Lydia Aschenbrenner, had three children. He was the middle child. His older brother, Stan Aschenbrenner (Jackie) and his younger sister, Ernestine Cole (Richard) both preceded him in death.
His father, Edward, was a Methodist minister, whose wife, Lydia, sang beautifully in church. In the early 1940s, when Lare was 12 or 13 years old, the Cotton Blossom Singers, a Black male quartet from the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, came to sing at his father's church, Newman Methodist Church, in Grants Pass, Ore. When they tried to book lodging at local motels, however, there was not a room to rent. It seems, that unknown to them, there was an unwritten law that no Black person could stay in town after sunset. So the Cotton Blossom Singers stayed at the parsonage attached to the church with Lare's family. They had a wonderful time singing hymns around the family piano in the parlor. Lare learned an important and indelible lesson from his parents on how to treat Black people and minorities in general. This was the start of Lare's career of helping all people no matter their color or race. His book published shortly before he died tells the story of his later work in the south during the Civil Rights Movement, "Civil Rights Lawyers in the South, The untold Story! The Movement, Its Lawyers and the Civil Rights Revolution" written by Lawrence A. Aschenbrenner.
At Grants Pass High School in Oregon, Lare made many lifelong friends who gathered for numerous well-attended and momentous reunions. He was proud to be a Caveman and appropriately "loathed" their local rivals, the Medford Black Tornadoes. He was also a proud Duck, having graduated from the University of Oregon. He was a steadfast friend with his U of O college and law school classmates. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, attaining the rank of Corporal.
As the son of a Methodist minister, Lare learned at an early age to treat all people fairly. His parents were vocal opponents of all forms of discrimination. Lare embraced those beliefs by dedicating his life to fighting for the rights of minorities. In so doing, Lare lived the Methodist founder John Wesley's advice:
Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as you can.
His pursuit of equality and justice began soon after his graduation from the University of Oregon Law School in 1957, when he accepted the first of his positions in public service. He was appointed Justice of the Peace in 1958, elected District Attorney in 1960, and became Oregon's first Public Defender in 1964. As Public Defender, Lare pursued many post-conviction relief suits and gained the release of several wrongfully convicted African Americans - some of whom were serving life sentences.
In the summer of 1967, Lare spent a month in Jackson, Missi., as a volunteer attorney for the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law founded under President John Kennedy. He returned with his family in January 1968 as Chief Counsel of the Jackson Office of the Lawyers' Committee - at the time the largest civil rights law office in the south. His experience in Mississippi focused what would become his life's purpose. He documented his first-person story in his recently published and well-liked book "Civil Rights Lawyers in the South, The Untold Story" available on Amazon. According to his wife, Katy, everyone should read this book.
Lare's focus shifted to the protection of Native American rights upon returning from Mississippi to Oregon, and he spent the next 34 years seeking to establish and protect the right and powers of Native American Indians and Tribes. He worked for the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) in Washington, D.C., and later opened a new NARF North office in Anchorage in 1984. Lare successfully confronted the Federal Government's discriminatory policy towards Alaska Natives. His work was instrumental in the Federal Governments' recognition of 226 Tribes in Alaska and included important and successful subsistence rights litigation.
In the early 1980s, taking a hiatus from working for NARF, Lare worked for the Navajo Tribe in Window Rock, Ariz., and established their inhouse Attorney General Office.
The Alaska ACLU honored Lare in 2002, with the Charlie Parr Lifetime Achievement Award for his lifelong commitment to advancing the cause of basic human rights for all people and his many years of public service, speaking for those whose voices were silenced and securing justice for the powerless. The University of Oregon Law School Alumni Association honored Lare in 2005 with the prestigious Frohnmayer Award for Public Service, which is bestowed on graduates whose public service bring honor to the school. Lare contributed generously to Save the Children throughout his life.
Lare was also an incredible athlete. His running escapades included the Boston and New York Marathons. His bicycle adventures included five weeklong, 400-mile supported bike rides in Oregon and Washington. Most of all, Lare enjoyed visiting with family and friends, was an avid world traveler with his wife, Katy, and a lover of martinis. Their Fur Rendezvous "Fireworks and Firewater" and 4th of July parties in Anchorage were legendary. Lare enjoyed traveling, hunting and fishing with his sons, numerous friends in Alaska and throughout the world, and many friends who visited Alaska through the years.
Lare is survived by his wife of 67 years, Catherine "Katy"; their children, Ted (Caroline), Dan (Sandy), Connie and John (Mimi); and three grandchildren, Sam, Luke and Annykate. He is also survived by loving in-laws, nieces, nephews and many, many longtime friends.
There will be a memorial for Lare when circumstances allow. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the following causes dear to Lare's heart: the Mississippi Center for Justice at mscenterforjustice.org, 963 Division St., Biloxi, MS 39539, phone 228-435-7284; the Native American Rights Fund, 1506 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80302-6217, phone 303-447-8760; and Save the Children.
