This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Shortridge, Sleight, Rimli Classification: Obituary Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/hd.2ADI/1509 Message Board Post: Deseret Morning News, 08/11/05 Elder Laren Reed Shortridge, part time service missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serving at the headquarters of the extraction department of the Church was called home to his Father in Heaven on August 8, 2005 due to stomach cancer. His religious affiliation meant everything in the world to him. He retired from the United States Air Force as a Master Sergeant having served for eight years in the Navy in Japan and Vietnam as an Air crew member aboard the Aircraft carrier CVS-14 Ticonderoga. He then transferred to the United States Air Force serving 27 years in the USA, South Korea, Japan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Peru and Haiti. He was born in Montpelier, Bear Lake County, Idaho on November 21, 1945 to Spencer Reed Shortridge and Julia Marie Sleight, both deceased. Laren enjoyed life. He was always helping someone. He was an Eagle Scout having earned twice as many merit badges than was required. Laren served a full-time mission from 1965-1967 in the Southeast Mexico mission. He loved the people of his mission and loved living in thatched roof huts with dirt floors and sleeping in hammocks. He very much loved this experience. After High School and his mission he studied Spanish at BYU and at the Church College of Hawaii. He studied Biomedical Equipment Technology at Foothill Jr. College, and went on to study electronics engineering and industrial arts at Salt Lake Community College. Laren loved the out-of-doors and was always camping and traveling. He passed through or visited every single state in the United States and had been to several other countries either with the military, pleasure traveling, or while doing humanitarian aid. Laren and his wife, France, went on two humanitarian aid trips to Cuzco, Peru. Laren was the man on the block when it came to woodworking. He knew it all. He was the best cabinet maker out there and loved to work. Laren was a guru with computers helping everybody fix their own computers. He enjoyed gardening with France, reaping the benefits of a bountiful harvest. Laren tried his best to gather as much genealogy as possible on his family and his wife's family. He als! o enjoyed teaching others about their genealogy. Laren maintained his fluency in Spanish throughout all the years after his mission. Several of his friends only spoke Spanish. He is survived by his loving wife France Rimli Shortridge, and former wife Linda Trappett, four children, Ashley (Stephen), David (Julie) Samuel (Jolene) and Brooke (Brad) who are the proud parents of Laren's six grandchildren. He is also survived by a wonderful sister Marilyn Shortridge Jones (Wayne) and their four children. He is also survived by his wife's two sisters and one brother and numerous nieces and nephews. Many thanks go to the doctors and the staff of the Utah Cancer Specialists, Mountain Medical Imaging, Lackland AFB hospital, St. Marks Hospital, and Harmony Hospice. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, August 13, 2005 at 10:30 a.m. at the Millcreek 6th Ward, 4600 So. 600 E., Salt Lake City. Friends and family may call Friday, August 12, 2005 from 6:30-8:00 p.m. at Jenkins-Soffe Mortuary, 4760 So. State St., Murray, and from 9:30-10:15 a.m. on Saturday at the church. Interment Salt Lake City Cemetery.