Obituary of Larry Gene Addison

Larry's Story Larry Addison was born March 20, 1948 in Glendale, California, growing up at the beach. He loved the ocean and started surfing at the age of 12. During the 1960's as the Vietnam War was raging and young men were getting drafted, Larry joined the Marines. He enlisted on April 8, 1968, making rank of Corporal E-4 in June and received honorable discharge on October 17, 1969. Our family fits a quote from You've Got Mail, when Tom Hanks said "we are a modern American family". Larry and Eleanor married on March 19, 1983, and lived in Ash Fork, Williams, and Phoenix Arizona. Larry is survived by his wife, Eleanor and his first wife Kim daughters Tara, Tania, Shannon, Kim and son Andy through marriage, our family added Jessica, Sheaden and Julie and without adding pressure to anyone, we have Chad as a future family member. We have been blessed with a full quiver of grandchildren and great grandchildren! Larry has preceded 9 grandsons, 2 granddaughters and 2 great grandsons. Aiden, Austin, Mason, Micah, Malachi, Mathias, Connor, Logan, Ceanna, Shondee, James, Johnny, and Jason. Larry also preceded by many nephews, nieces, brothers and sister in laws, a step brother and several cousins whom he loved very much. Once you were related to Larry, that relationship stayed. His first brother in law was his best friend, and still is. His love ran deep and those who loved dad became the starting point of who he became. His greatest desire was to have more family reunions. Always hosted and organized by someone else, of course. And he would tell everyone "We need to do that again!" It was always hard for dad to tell his stories or his testimonies he had such a hard time knowing where to start. They usually started with -when I was sick in 2005... If you were young and asked him how he was, you better have a lot of time because you would hear the story! Mom tried to cut the stories short but it would irritate dad because he had so much he had to say. They tried to write their testimonies of all that God has done, and even together couldn't limit the words! Dad had a hard time showing his love and emotion, but we all knew it was deep, thorough and complete. No matter what the circumstances of life, he looked at the bright side of every moment and every person. He loved his girls and while never saying it was honored that God trusted him with so many. The girls were always able to see through that rough exterior and see the marshmallow teddy bear inside that big man! And if not, they would argue their point. Either way he treasured each moment with the kids and was able to play them back in his great big heart at any given time to remember and laugh. We spent a lot of time during the growing up years doing what we called Making Memories. Without a lot of money we camped and went places. Even camping at the KOA one mile from home! Dad loved prayer and to pray for people. If you had a need, he and mom would even do phone prayer because God can do anything. His quiet faith was his strength and finding the Lord as his savior was truly a life changing event. He believed what he believed. It was a long road and a sometimes rocky struggle to get there. His story was not simple, as life never is. But as his first wife said this week, he overcame all of that! He did not end where he started and he wanted everyone to know how good God was to him. As moms little brother said—of course Uncle Larry died on a Saturday night. How else would he go to church on Sunday? That was how he lived! So today with heavy hearts our family says a goodbye to dad for a while. When coming together this past week we have laughed and cried, we have mended and bonded and met new members. And we had a Family Reunion. We know that would make him happy All because we are a modern American family. God bless you.