Loring Bearce Memorial Service

Loring and Larry continued to share their mutual love of music and of Larry’s sons,
Brian and Kevin. What began as Uncle Loring babysitting grew into adult
friendships that shared the families’ gifts for music and performing. Loring worked for
Larry, helping out at his music stores. The brothers also sang and performed together
occasionally. Their harmonies were beautiful. The Bearce family now stood at eight.
In 1988, life took an unexpected turn when Loring attended a dance sponsored by the
Burke Singles Club. Chris Alexander was also there with her friend Doreen. After
many dances and an evening of conversation, Loring decided it was time to ask for his
first date in over 5 years. When Chris mentioned that she had recently joined a Bible
Study, Loring asked if he could join her at her church the next Sunday. Not wasting
any time, Loring planned another date that began with a dozen roses, followed by
dinner and a movie, and ended with dancing. Courtship included trips to museums,
historical sites, dining out, dancing, game and movie nights, antiquing and weekend
drives in the country sides of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. Favorite evenings
included listening to music where Loring would frequently sing to Chris. Loring sang
many genres of music. He would confess his eternal love with songs from Camelot,
Carousel, and a variety of performers such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Randy
Travis, Josh Grobin, and Andrea Bocelli. It was on a fall day driving along Skyline
Drive that Loring first proposed to Chris. Trying the indirect approach, he asked her
where she would like to go for a honeymoon should she ever remarry; several
proposals later Chris said “YES!” On October 20, 1989, in the company of family and
friends, and with their sons Jay, Paul and Andrew as their “groomsmen” Chris and
Loring were married in the chapel at Sligo SDA Church on the campus of the then
called Columbia Union College. Their wedding was also the first time of many times
that Loring sang The Lord’s Prayer for Chris.
Did you notice the change of venue? By God’s grace, Bible studies led to a Revelation
Study series, and subsequently to Chris’ baptism and membership in the Seventh Day
Adventist Church. Loring made his commitment to Jesus the next Spring.
God had blessed again and created a new family. Loring’s and Andrew’s family of six
grew to nine as Chris had two sons, Jay Alexander (born in 1974) and Paul Alexander
(born in 1976) from a previous marriage. Kathlyn (born in 1990) raised the total to
eleven—“Yours” and “Mine” became “Ours.” Despite his dementia and even until
the last weeks of his life, Loring was able to recall many stories of family events, e.g.,
the trip to Disney World, soccer, community service, carb-dense dinners, several
vehicle breakdowns, graduations, weddings, funerals, marriages, daughters-in-law
(Janelle and Kelly), grandchildren (Ellis, Karsen, Madison and Colby), monstrously,