Larry Aubert ’64 (NDHS) with his friend, Lillie, at the Taktsang Monastery in Paro, Bhutan.Retired chemical engineer Larry Aubert ’64 (NDHS) has lived in one place—Cincinnati—for more than 30 years. He still lives there. But he is far from being a homebody. Very far, usually. Aubert and his friend, Lillie, recently returned from a trip to Indonesia, which included stops in Java, Bali, the Komodo Islands and Taiwan. In fact, Taiwan is the 95th country he’s visited, give or take—there are so many, he’s not quite sure.
But what it seems he is pretty sure about is that his love for traveling began when he was a kid, even before Notre Dame High School. “Our family always traveled when my dad had vacation,” Aubert said. “He did not use his vacation time to finish household chores. He packed up the family and a tent, picked some part of the country and we were off on a camping trip. I did the same as I raised my own kids. Now, since I have more time and money after retirement, I just expanded my travels throughout the world.”
From U-M to P&G
Back in Michigan, though—actually way back—after he graduated from the University of Michigan in the late 60s with a degree in chemical engineering, Aubert started a 33-year career at Procter & Gamble, which brought him south to Cincinnati, location of the company’s world headquarters. He spent his entire professional career in research and development at P&G, primarily in the health care and personal care areas. He started in process development where he formulated new products such as Sure aerosol antiperspirant. After a number of years in process, he said he moved into P&G’s package-development area and worked on brands such as Crest toothpaste and Scope mouthwash.
“I was responsible for the development of all packaging components—from tubes, bottles, closures, labels, etc., to cartons and shipping containers,” Aubert said. “I also worked on the big transition in packaging from glass to plastic, designed child-resistant packaging and even got involved with developing internal P&G training classes for specific technologies within the company. I’m particularly proud of the fact that I was able to mentor quite a few new hires and summer interns over the years at P&G and was able to witness and also contribute to the big technology change from paper systems to computers.”
Aubert wasn’t the first nor the last in his family to do such work. He said his father, his uncle, a brother and even his son were all trained as chemical engineers.
The “George Pierrot” of Cincinnati
Many older alums might remember the “World Adventure Series” with host George Pierrot that aired in the 60s and 70s on local Detroit TV. Pierrot took viewers to some of the world’s most exotic places. Aubert can’t say for sure whether that program also may have contributed to his love for travel, but it probably had something to do with it.
And like Pierrot, Aubert has publicly presented travelogues of his many trips and recently started to post videos on YouTube. He says he has more than 60,000 photos and videos on file from his travels.
Aubert in Komodo National Park in Indonesia with a 9-foot Komodo dragon.
He said Nepal and Bhutan were rugged, primarily agricultural societies, but seemed very peaceful compared to our modern world. “And the people are what always amaze me. They are friendly, outgoing and willing to share what little they have. Burma overwhelms one with the thousands of temples. People in small villages are living the same lifestyle that their ancestors were living hundreds of years ago.
Antarctica also had many highlights for Aubert with the massive penguin population, old whaling stations, research stations, and massive ice floes that in some cases were measured in miles. “And the safaris in Africa were nothing like I’d ever experienced,” he said.
Aubert says the foods he’s eaten on his trips were as exotic sometimes as the the countries themselves. “I’ve eaten three-inch-long grubs, guinea pigs, kangaroo, plus numerous small insects, including beetles, grasshoppers and a few other unidentified creatures.” Yum!
Notre Dame memories
Aubert has many fond memories of his time at Notre Dame High School and like most alumni was very sad to see the school close in 2005. He says he vividly remembers and enjoyed Mr. Raymond and his math classes. “I joined the math club, learned to use a slide rule and earned eight credit hours of college calculus with him,” he said. “Yes, I was a nerd, but I never missed a football game and was always proud to be a Notre Dame student.”
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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org.