Reverend Father Lawrence E. Mierenfeld, “Fr. Stretch” age 78 of Dayton passed away Tuesday August 11, 2026. Fr. Stretch was the oldest of the five of us, along with his twin brother Bob. Our parents lived in the University Heights neighborhood of Cincinnati, when he was born. They lived there with our father’s father. In 1952, they moved into a new house in the Covedale neighborhood on the west side of Cincinnati just before Kathy was born. Our grandfather continued to live with us in that small house until his death in 1967. Grandpa had a big impact on our brother Stretch. He loved sports, particularly listening to the Cincinnati Reds on his transistor radio. He passed this love of sports onto Stretch at a young age. Stretch went to St. Teresa of Avila grade school and onto Elder High School. In the eighth grade he entered the Gregorian Program for boys interested in learning more about the priesthood. This must have gone very positively as Stretch decided to enter St. Gregory’s Seminary in Mt. Washington at the beginning of his junior year or high school, to begin studying to become a priest. He finished high school there and graduated from college at St. Greg’s four years later. He then moved on to Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Norwood, to begin four years of Divinity school, which yielded a masters degree. He spent one year as a deacon at Our Lady of the Rosary Parish, which culminated in his ordination as a priest on June 2, 1973 at St. Peter in Chains Cathedral. He was ordained in a class of 20 new priests.

Fr. Stretch began his priesthood with his first assignment in Dayton at St. Helen’s Parish. He never left Dayton. His next assignment was at Ascension Parish. Following this he was moved to Mary Help of Christians in Fairborn also as an associate. In 1989, he accepted his first assignment as a pastor at St. Henry’s Parish. Fr. Stretch spent 12 very happy and successful years there before being moved to the Church of the Incarnation in 2001 to begin his last assignment. He remained there until his retirement in 2018. He had a reputation as being very frugal and ran this extremely large parish quite efficiently with a staff of just 8 people.

During his years in the priesthood, he shared his love of basketball by coaching youth teams, attending many games at U.D. and playing recreationally into his 60’s. He additionally became a longtime team chaplain at Kettering Alter High School.

Stretch always placed a lot of importance on being fit. He was an avid runner and worked out quite regularly. Stretch also developed a love for playing golf. He continued playing even after being afflicted with Parkinson’s disease until his last couple of years.

He developed countless friendships throughout his life through all of these passions. Fr. Stretch had some strong qualities which fostered these friendships. He had an easy going disposition and was always quite approachable. He was able to put people at ease and met them wherever they happened to be in life. He had no pretense. These qualities allowed him to bring people together and get them to work together toward common goals and to diffuse conflict. He was a great peacemaker and extremely generous.

Fr. Stretch lived his life as a priest in a genuine manner in regards to spirituality. He believed that every single member of his flock was entitled to his time and deserved his respect. His ultimate goal from the day of his ordination was to serve others. He was a tremendous mentor. He mentored more interns than any other priest, including our celebrant today, Bishop Binzer and some of you attending today.

Uncle Stretch also took great interest and pride in his eight nieces and nephews. Whenever he saw them, he always had many questions about what was going on in their lives. He was an exceptional listener. Stretch is going to be remembered by a lot of people as a wonderful friend, compassionate priest and fabulous brother and uncle. We will miss him greatly.

He is preceded in death by his parents, Edward and Ruth along with a brother-in-law, Doug Seider. He is survived by three brothers and sisters-in-law, Ric (Kim), Bob (Star), Gary (Peggy); a sister, Kathy Seider. There will be a reception of the body followed by a visitation Tuesday, August 18 from 4:00-7:00 pm at the Church of the Incarnation. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held 10:00am Wednesday August 19 also at the Church of the Incarnation. Most Reverend Joe Binzer will preside and Fr. Chris Worland will serve as homilist. There will be a luncheon immediately following mass at St. Francis of the Assisi. Private burial at St. Joseph Old Cemetery, Cincinnati.

Donations in lieu of flowers to the Athenaeum of Ohio, 6616 Beechmont Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45230.

Arrangements in care of the WESTBROCK FUNERAL HOME- KETTERING.