Miriam La Plante

Miriam La Plante 1925-2025

Miriam Cecelia Lacayo (La Plante) was born in Los Angeles, California on August 24,1925 to Leopoldo Jose Lacayo and Amelia Lacayo. She passed away on April 24, 2025 in Costa Mesa, California just 4 months shy of her 100th birthday. Her father was the Ambassador to the United States from his home country of Nicaragua. After marrying and starting a family in Nicaragua and moving to Los Angeles in the early 1920’s, he decided to stay in the USA where Miriam and her twin sister Muriel were born. They were the 5th and 6th children of the family and resided in Hollywood. Living just a few blocks from Paramount Studios during the golden age of Hollywood, Miriam would frequently encounter famous actors around town, and she became a huge movie buff, a passion she would maintain her entire life. Tragically, Miriam lost her only brother when he was only 13 years old. Miriam attended Hollywood High School and graduated in 1943.

After World War II, she worked for an insurance company in downtown Los Angeles and began dating a dashing WWII Naval aviator - USC graduate, early California surfing pioneer, and avid sailor from Manhattan Beach, Bill La Plante - whom she had first met when she was just 14 and he was 21. Bill had met her older sister, Amelita, in a class at USC. Amelita, a stunning blue-eyed brunette beauty often mistaken for Hollywood movie star Heddy Lamarr, was the first Miss Universe. Being the humanitarian he was, Bill generously offered Amelita a ride home to Hollywood when he learned she had four younger sisters. From that day on, Bill had his eye on young Miriam - but first, as Bill would later say, he had to “vanquish the world from the forces of evil” before he could settle down and start a family. Much to Miriam’s frustration, the two would date for 10 years before she gave him an ultimatum: Marry me or get lost! Bill proposed shortly thereafter, and they were married on June 28, 1956, after Bill completed a two-year duty as a Naval Aid to President Dwight Eisenhower at the White House where he once escorted Queen Elizabeth to a White House dinner. Still in the Navy, the couple moved to Whidbey Island, Washington and Miriam had her first baby, “Billy” LaPlante III in 1958. Bill was then transferred to the Naval base at Pensacola, Florida where Randy was born in 1960 and Phillip in 1961. Bill’s final Navy deployment, by this time a Commander, was to be 2nd in command of the US Navy base at Rota, Spain near Cadiz. It was in Spain that Miriam really hit her stride socially as a fluent speaker of Spanish and married to a high-ranking Naval officer. This afforded Miriam numerous opportunities to travel extensively around Europe and socialize with powerful people such as the Spanish Royal Family. Future King of Spain Juan Carlos I and his wife Sophia invited Miriam and Bill to their private villa and winery where they regaled the Royal couple with tales of Hollywood and life in LA over wine from the Royal vineyard.

After 24 years in the Navy, Bill retired and moved his young family to Balboa Island in Newport Beach, where Bill would often sail his boat from LA for weekends. Being an avid boater and surfer, raising a family in Newport Beach made perfect sense to him. It was on Balboa Island that the couple raised their 3 boys and enjoyed sailing the family yacht to Catalina as their favorite vacation destination. Bill passed away in 1998 after 42 years of marriage. In 2021, Miriam endured the heartbreaking loss of her eldest son, Billy – a sorrow that touched the rest of her days. Throughout her life, she spent more than six joyful decades living the “Balboa Island Dream”. Over the years, Miriam’s family grew to include 6 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren. She truly led a blessed, long life filled with love, adventure, travel, and numerous friendships.

A memorial service is planned at the family church St. John Vianney Chapel on Balboa Island on Friday, May 9, 2025 at 11:00 am.