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Mae Laborde News

January 29, 2012 by · Comments Off on Mae Laborde News 

Mae Laborde News, Mae Laborde, 102, an energetic senior citizen whose outgoing personality landed her in several Steve Lopez columns and launched a late-blooming acting career, died in her sleep Jan. 9 at an assisted living facility in Santa Monica.

A longtime Santa Monica resident, Laborde was approached for TV and commercial roles after Lopez featured her in his Points West columns in The Times beginning in 2002, when she was 93. She became a regular guest on “Talkshow With Spike Feresten,” and a spoofing public-service announcement that the late-night TV program made about television’s digital conversion process featuring her became an Internet sensation.

Born May 13, 1909, in Fresno, she moved to Southern California after attending business school. She worked as a department store clerk and as a bookkeeper for “The Lawrence Welk Show.”

She attributed her long and full life to staying active and having a positive outlook.

“I like to keep in touch with things. I just keep busy, and I have fun doing it,” she told a Times reporter in 2000. “You have to have a sense of humor and keep happy thoughts. I keep thinking of the nice things that are going to happen.”

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