OUR BELOVED CHERESE
by Chris Laulhere (Cherese's mom)
The name "Cherese" is French and it means "Beloved." I actually chose her name many years before she was born and it fit her perfectly! I met Larry in 1969. We dated and fell in love. We were married in 1971 and within a year we began talking about starting our family.
Cherese Mari Laulhere, our beloved angel, was born on a Tuesday morning, at 7:58 a.m. on September 17, 1974. It was the most joyous day to celebrate the birth of our daughter.
She was beautiful. She weighed 7 lbs. 2 oz. and was 20 1/2" long. She had just a sprinkle of light golden blonde hair and her deep blue eyes sparkled like diamonds. Her precious smile melted our hearts from the very first moment we saw her. It was the first day of Cherese's 21 years of giving us all her love and bringing so much joy to our lives.
Five days later, Larry and I brought Cherese home from Miller Children's Hospital at Long Beach Memorial in Long Beach, California. We were excited for Cherese to meet her big brother, Todd, just 20 months older. Todd welcomed Cherese with hugs and kisses. He loved to hold her and help take care of her. She was a happy baby and we felt so lucky, we now had the perfect little family we had always hoped for.
CHILDHOOD
The first year of Cherese's life seemed to go by so quickly. She was very social and loved being with people. She was eager to learn, was soon talking all the time and started walking when she was about 1 year old. The terrible two's really weren't that terrible. Cherese loved to entertain us by singing and dancing and soon owned her first pairs of tap and ballet shoes. At age three we enrolled Cherese in preschool and she made lots of new friends.
Around the same time, Judy was born. She lived next door to us. Judy looked up to Cherese and wanted to be just like her. Cherese, being 3 years older, became Judy's protector and best friend. Judy was always inspired and influenced by Cherese.
When Cherese's 5th birthday was approaching, she was excited to begin kindergarten at Kettering Elementary School. I'll never forget the first day of school, she looked so cute! And then Cherese met Anne-Marie, who would also become her best friend. They joined the Brownies and Girl Scouts, and I became one of their leaders. They did everything together, even went to modeling school when they were 14 years old and in high school they started a club to help keep the environment clean.
