Lawrence J. Mente, 82, of Concord, MA, died Tuesday, September 13, 2011, at home surrounded by his family. He was the husband of fifty-one years of E. Joanne (Welch) Mente. Born in Chicago, IL on March 3, 1929, he was the son of the late Lawrence and Kathryn G. (Luxen) Mente. Raised on Chicago's South Side, he attended St. Rita's High School and went on to earn his BS and MS degrees in civil engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology, with structural mechanics as his major field. After obtaining his degrees, he served as a Specialist in the U.S. Army for two years. For twenty-seven years he worked for Kaman Sciences Corporation, retiring as a Vice President from the Kaman AviDyne Division in 1991. He spent the majority of his career there contributing to aerospace vehicle research projects. Prior to Kaman, he specialized in structural mechanics at MITRE Corporation and was a staff engineer at Allied Research Associates. He published numerous technical papers in the field of dynamic shell response. A communicant for over fifty years at Holy Family Parish (formerly St. Bernard's Parish) in Concord, MA, he was a Eucharistic minister and a member of the Human Rights Committee. In addition to his wife, he leaves his seven children and two daughters-in-law: Andrew and his wife Christa (Chapman) of Hamilton, MA; Peter of Raleigh, NC; Kathryn (Kate) of San Francisco, CA; Philip and his wife Amy Helburn of Jamaica Plain, MA; Suzanne of Sunderland, MA; Sarah of Brooklyn, NY; and Julie of Brooklyn, NY. Grandsons Nathan, Jeffrey and Daniel of Hamilton, MA and Nicholas of Jamaica Plain, MA, and sister Joan Polsinelli, of Chicago, IL, also survive him. He was the brother-in-law of Sister Margaret Welch, SND, of Ipswich, MA; Ann (Welch) and David Purcell of Auburndale, MA; Jane (Welch) and Richard Leard of Waltham, MA; and the late Charles Polsinelli; and he had five nieces and nephews. Concord's town flag will fly at half-staff on Saturday in recognition of Mr. Mente's service to his country in the U. S. Army. Cemetery: Burial will be in St. Bernard's Cemetery, Concord. Visitation: Visiting hours Friday, September 16th from 4 to 8 PM in the Dee Funeral Home, 27 Bedford Street, Concord Center. Service: Funeral Saturday, September 17th from the Dee Funeral Home, 27 Bedford Street, Concord Center at 9 AM followed by a funeral Mass in Holy Family Parish, Monument Square, Concord Center at 10 AM.