In the steele memorial library in Elmira, NY they have the Newspapers including Star-Gazette on microfilm going back to 1800s. Good chance obit is in the paper there. Unfortunitely I live about 4.5 hours from Elmira so don't go there too often. Maybe you can get someone else to check the papers. I agree with the other persons response to check http://www.joycetice.com/jmtindex.htm. Also www.fultonhistory.com has newspapers of NY State online (not elmira papers as of yet though). The Binghamton papers are there and might yield some information. I did a search on Fulton History web site for Lawrence Brooks using exact phrase and it gave me 457 hits in different papers (no hits for Lawrence Lee Brooks and 6 hits for Lawrence L Brooks). So good chance it will have what you are looking for.