Laurance Nathaniel Prevost

Laurance N. Prevost was born on August 25, 1933 to Wallace and Edna Prevost in Baldwin, LA. He was the third youngest of four children, Herman, Catherine, and the youngest, Annona Prevost.

Laurance learned the value of hard work and commitment to excellence at a young age when he helped support his family by delivering groceries on his motorcycle.

He graduated from McKinley high school and joined the United States Air Force where he served as a staff sergeant from 1951 to 1955. His base of operation was Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City, South Dakota. He later became a part of the Strategic Air Command where he was an airborne radio operator on a C-124 GlobeMaster heavy-lift air transport. He performed a variety of tasks ranging from bringing back fallen soldiers from the field of battle in Korea, to executing secret orders from President Truman to stem the expansion of Russian Communism.

When he was discharged with honors from his service in the Air Force, he ventured northward to settle in Cleveland, OH where he joined his brother’s company, Kinsdale Construction. There, he started as a carpenter and worked his way to serve in a leadership position as foreman, providing inspiration, training, and coaching to other carpenters employed by the company.

But he didn’t apply the leadership skills he gained from his armed forces service only to his work with Kinsdale. He also served as a Scoutmaster for a local Boy Scout troop in Cleveland where he taught the importance of duty, honor, and preparation.

By far, his greatest love was for his family. Laurance met his wife in Cleveland and raised a family.  He instilled in his children that same sense of duty and honor that he brought to his civic service, his work, and his community service. He also instilled in them a strong desire for continuous education.  While the Air Force gave him his higher education, he fervently pursued his intellectual passions: he loved mathematics, he loved radio electronics, he loved to draw, and he loved building things.

He often played checkers and chess with his children and grandchildren, teaching them not only the rules of the game, but instilling in them a sense of honesty and fair play, how to win with humility, and lose with dignity.

He was also an avid outdoors man, dividing his time between hunting, fishing and camping, giving his children the opportunity to enjoy all that the state of Ohio has to offer.

He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Clarice (nee Jackson), his 5 children, Laurence II, Carla, Lisa, Angela, and Nichole, 6 grandchildren, Danielle, Alicia, Gabrielle, Joshua II, Bryce, and Summer, and one great grandchild, Adrian.

A Christian Mass will be celebrated in his memory on Friday, November 9, 2018 at 10:00 AM, at the Church of St. Dominic, with Father Thomas Fanta presiding.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Laurance Nathaniel Prevost, please visit our floral store.