At 90, local man's stories 'get better every year'

By Rachel Beck

Gazette-Times reporter

The decorations lining the walls of Lawrence Lahm's office almost look like stage props. But each framed photo, award and newspaper clipping is a memento from his life or a piece of family history. The items have provided good source material for Lahm and his daughter, Laura Evenson, who are writing his life story.

And what a story it is.

Lahm turned 90 this month, but he doesn't like to be reminded of his birthday. He'd rather talk about pitching to Babe Ruth, or meeting Charles Lindbergh. His stories are as fascinating as they are numerous, and he's not afraid to repeat them.

"They get better every year," he said.

Lahm's story starts with his father, Frank Purdy Lahm, who was the first military man to be trained as a pilot and who learned about flying from the Wright brothers. Frank Lahm's father taught him ballooning and, at the age of 23, Frank Lahm became an international celebrity when he won a balloon race in Europe.

When Lahm was about

7 years old, the family moved to San Antonio, Texas, so his father could act as commander of the U.S. Army Air Corps pilot training program at Kelly Field.

One night after dinner, his father told Lahm to "stick around." When the doorbell rang a little later, Lahm opened it and found himself face-to-face with Charles Lindbergh and Will Rogers. The men, both aviation enthusiasts, were there to visit Lahm's father.

The role had other perks. The family had a chauffeur and several cars to use. One day, a car wasn't available, so a chauffeur driving a motorcycle with a sidecar showed up at Lahm's school to take him home.

"The kids just absolutely went crazy," Lahm said. "I walked out of the front door of school as if I did this every day and climbed into the sidecar and said, 'Let's go.'"

When Lahm was about 12 years old, his father became a military attache in Paris. Lahm attended an American school in the country, and was the pitcher for his school's softball team. One day, Babe Ruth visited an American school, and American youngsters in the area went to see him. Lahm got a special job.

"They said, 'OK, Lahm, you get out there and pitch to Babe Ruth," he recalled.

Lahm stood softball-

distance away from the slugger, and pitched balls right over the middle to the famed home run slugger.

"I thought he was going to kill me, he hit so hard." Lahm said.

Ruth had "city shoes" on, not cleats, and spun all the way around on each swing.

A newspaper photographer captured Ruth helping Lahm bat: A crowd of children surround the two, including a young girl Lahm identified as his childhood sweetheart.

"Notice my girlfriend is not looking at me; she's not looking at Babe Ruth," Lahm said, tracing her gaze with his finger to the edge of the photo. "She's looking at some boy over here."

That wasn't the only run-in Lahm had with the Great Bambino. A few years later, while his family was living in New York, Lahm and his father took Lahm's sister to the train station. When they got to her seat, they found she was seated directly across from Ruth and his wife.

Like his father before him, Lahm attended college at the United States Military Academy at West Point. But he initially had a hard time getting in, because applicants were (and are) required to get a nomination from a senator or representative. Lahm, who had lived in five different states and two countries by the time he left high school, had trouble finding someone to give him the necessary credentials. So he went to Yale University.

After one year in the Ivy League, Lahm got his congressional appointment to West Point.

After graduating in 1942, he entered the Army. Lahm thought he would be sent to the European theater. But because he was fluent in Spanish and French, he was stationed at the Panama Canal.

He married and had five children, who between them can claim birthplaces in three different countries.

The family arrived in Corvallis in 1956, when Lahm was assigned to teach ROTC at Oregon State University. He got a masters in education from OSU. Later, he received his masters of political science from the University of Oregon.

Lahm acknowledges that most people don't have quite the storehouse of tales that he does. But he's got some advice on how to get there.

"The secret," he said, "is to outlive everybody."