WEBER, Larry D. 1947-2024

WEBER, HAFERBIER, JESSEN, RUTENBECK, GRAVERT

Posted By: Nettie Mae (email)
Date: 6/7/2024 at 10:32:32

Clinton Herald

Larry Dean Weber, 76, passed away on Friday, May 17, 2024.

His passing was too soon for friends and family (but, we all know how Larry liked to be early). After nearly a decade living with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, Larry might have considered his departure overdue (and, we really all know how Larry hated to be late).

Larry's friends and family are invited to say their goodbyes at an open house visitation from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Clinton Chapel Snell-Zornig Funeral Homes & Crematory. There will not be a formal service. There will be Doritoes (with butter for dipping) as Larry would have liked.

Larry was born on December 20, 1947 in Clinton, Iowa. He was the second oldest of Gerald and Vera (Haferbier) Weber's five children. He grew up on the family farm in rural Clinton County outside of Sabula, Iowa, where he attended school in a one-room schoolhouse until sixth grade. In high school, he was the editor of the year book and attended Boys State. He graduated as salutatorian from Sabula High School in 1966.

Two years later, after earning an associates degree in electronics from Clinton Community College, Larry married Kathleen Jessen. The couple met when Larry, trying to get Kathleen's sister's attention, pounded on the back of the car the two girls were driving. His strategy impressed at least one of the sisters, and the couple was married on June 29, 1968 in Clinton.

Always a tinkerer, Larry worked for Xerox Corporation for 42 years, starting as a technician and moving his way up to regional manager. His career took Larry and Kathy to Stirling, Illinois, where their oldest son Scott was born, and Leesburg, Virginia, where their second son Eric completed their family of four. The couple returned to Sabula in 1978 to live and work on the Weber family farm.

Larry also found plenty to tinker with on the farm in the more than four decades he spent caring for the nearly 150-year-old Century Farm. He started (and occasionally finished) many projects, including rebuilding a 1969 Chevrolet SS Camaro with Scott and a 1968 Ford Mustang with Eric. Larry never passed up a good deal, especially the free kind found on the side of the highway.

He loved being outside, fishing and hunting with friends and relatives, and giving his grandkids 'Bota rides around the property. Like any farmer, Larry had a hard time getting away, but his son's and grandchildren's activities always took priority. Larry and Kathy followed both Scott and Eric around the Midwest as the Dubuque Colts Drum and Bugle Corps' biggest fans and later attended many concerts, plays, recitals, and competitions on fields, tracks, and courts throughout Eastern Iowa. They were almost always the first to arrive, last to leave, and Larry usually had a corndog for anyone that shared his fondness for Kwik Star's fare.

Larry's love of road shopping, gas station food (always a hamburger and a black coffee for him), and camping took Larry and Kathy all around the country, covering most of the west, midwest and northeast. Door County was his favorite destination and not just because he loved the free samples at all of the shops. He could also tell you where to find the best hot dog anywhere in the Tri-State area.

He will be missed by all who knew him, but most of all by his wife of 55 years, Kathleen Weber; sons Scott (Carly) Weber of Mount Vernon, Iowa, and Eric (Peggy) Weber of Preston, Iowa; grandchildren: Kaden, Norah, Andrew, Jessen, Austin, and Ethan; sisters: Janice Rutenbeck and Leana Gravert; and brother: Jerry Weber.

It helps to think that he is once again "just peachy" and reunited with his parents and brother Frank Weber, all of whom preceded him in death.