It sure would have made for a good story had been able to tell those attending the 2012 Luncheon that living in Grand Lake, as he did in 1968, was the catalyst for his sobriety.
Grand Lake was “glorious,” he said, but “for an addict, everything eventually sours” and so after a year spent bartending and getting high on LSD, he moved on.
Sobriety for the five-time Emmy recipient wouldn’t come until Feb. 5, 1982 — a date made more auspicious by the fact it was his father’s birthday. Laroquette never met his father, who is now deceased and, like his son, was an addict.
“I grew up in the 1960s,” he recalled. “Sex, drugs and rock and roll were just being born, and I indulged in them all. Heavily.”
His decision to end his dependence on drugs and alcohol came after what he described as an out-of-body experience while spending time with a fellow addict. “It was like I was standing back, looking at the two of us sitting at that table. I thought, ‘what a waste, what a loser’ and then got up, went home and that was that.”
David and Nanette Kikumoto (he’s co-founder and chief executive officer of ) chaired the event that was presented by the Anschutz Foundation. The 520 guests helped raise approximately $200,000 for Arapahoe House and the substance-abuse treatment and mental-health services it provides to about 15,000 Coloradans per year.
Money won’t solve the problem, though.
Substance abuse, noted Arapahoe House CEO David Murphy, “Isn’t going to go away. What will change is how we treat it.”
Murphy and the Kikumotos welcomed a crowd that included state legislators Irene Aguilar, Cheri Gerou and Nancy Todd; Michael Butler, president of the Arapahoe House board; Noah Atencio, an assistant vice president with the ; Will Jones, public relations manager at ; Helen Hanks, president of the Arapahoe House Foundation board, and her husband, Warren; Jeanne and Dick Saunders; Judy and Charlie McNeil, whose also was an event sponsor; Laura and Jason Romero from VIP reception sponsor Wells Fargo Bank; Adrienne and Jack Fitzgibbons; Patty Jenkins; Marcella Rapp; Christine and Clayton Powers; retired judge Bob Fullerton and his wife, Beverlee Henry; and former event chair Kathy Crapo.
