Image courtesy of LaLone family, click to enlarge
Press Release posted 6/14/14 – One of Sierra Madre’s oldest families will be holding a large, and long overdue, family reunion over the July 4th weekend in Sierra Madre.
The LaLone family is well known in town, and you can’t have lived in Sierra Madre without hearing the name in many places, some of which include the LaLone Cleaners, LaLone Realty or the Sierra Madre Search and Rescue Team.
The family we are celebrating are the six children from Theophilus LaLone and his wife Estanislada Padilla. From 1926 to 1928, five of the LaLone kids came to Sierra Madre, where they settled and raised their families.
Sister Carrie LaLone and her husband Julian Leal were among the first of the family to move to Sierra Madre. After that, most of the rest of the family then followed.
The oldest sister Fannie LaLone Lacey and her family arrived in 1928. Her husband Peter “Doc” Lacey got a job as the caretaker of the estate called “Mia Italia” on North Lima. They lived in a small house on the property. Fannie and Doc Lacey had 8 children, a few of which remained in the area to raise their own families. Joe Sanchez, the husband of another sister Adelaida (who passed at the young age of 29), and brothers Fred LaLone and Louis LaLonde (Louis kept the original spelling of the family name) and their families came to Sierra Madre as well.
The oldest brother Fred LaLone Sr. raised his 11 children in town. His sons Fred Jr., Robert and Earl, along with several other locals, founded the Sierra Madre Search and Rescue Team in 1951, and worked around town in various capacities over the years.
Walking through the Sierra Madre Pioneer Cemetery is a walk back in time for the family. Many of the family members are buried here.
The Lacey/LaLone/Sanchez/LaLonde families are a true “family of the west” having migrated across the country via Texas and New Mexico to settle in California. The descendants of the original siblings will gather to honor them, and to celebrate the city of Sierra Madre, over the July 4th weekend. After spending July 4th watching the annual parade, and meeting afterwards for a picnic in Memorial Park, the actual reunion will take place on Saturday, July 5th at The Lodge at Sierra Madre, 33 E. Sierra Madre Blvd. It seems appropriate to hold the reunion there, as the Lodge was built at the same time the family came to Sierra Madre!
We welcome anyone related to the family whether by blood or by memories. If you are a family member, or someone who knew the family very well, and would like more information on attending the reunion, please contact Cheryl Lacey Willey at (805) 904-5341, or visit the reunion website at: www.llsl.myevent.com