Lawrence Emmett Marler Jr.
November 29, 1929 – January 13, 2012
“Never an ex-marine – Semper Fi”
Lawrence (Larry) Emmett Marler Jr. was born in St. Louis, Missouri on November 20, 1929, as the second of what would be seven children to Lawrence Sr. and Golda Marler. In 1943 the family moved to a seventy-seven acre corn and dairy farm in Bonne Terre, Missouri. Until Larry left for Doane College in Nebraska on a basketball scholarship, indoor plumbing was something he experienced only in town.
His study of chemistry and love of basketball were interrupted by the Korean War. Larry volunteered to the Marines where he served with distinction from 1950 to 1954, gaining the rank of Lance Corporal and playing basketball for the Marine Corps Team. In 1952 while recovering in Bremerton from injuries sustained in Korea, he met and then eventually married, Diane Gwendolyn LaFond, his bride, “sweetie” and love of his life. Diane was a lieutenant in the Navy Nurse Corps, and continued to outrank Larry for nearly sixty, love-filled, happy years. They had three children, Donald Gene Marler of Seabeck, William Dale Marler of Bainbridge Island and Maura Kay Marler Pilet, deceased.
In 1969 Larry and Diane found a hobby farm on the Hood Canal near the old town of Bangor where Larry taught his kids to enjoy (somewhat) farm chores. When not planting fruit trees, Larry taught math and science to thousands of students over 29 years at the PSNS Apprenticeship Program and Olympic Jr. College. Larry received his AA from Olympic Jr. College in 1956 where he also played basketball and coached the Rangers. The Marler Family funded the Maura Marler Pilet Nursing Scholarship for students graduating from Central Kitsap High School.
Larry died at Hospice on his own terms and with the same quiet dignity he lived his life.
Larry loved to fish. Just before Larry died his sons were reading him Hemmingway’s “The Big Two-Hearted River:”
The leader had broken where the hook was tied to it. Nick took it in his hand. He thought of the trout somewhere on the bottom, holding himself steady over the gravel, far down below the light, under the logs, with the hook in his jaw. Nick knew the trout’s teeth would cut through the snell of the hook. The hook would imbed itself in his jaw. He’d bet the trout was angry. Anything that size would be angry. That was a trout. He had been solidly hooked. Solid as a rock. He felt like a rock, too, before he started off. By God, he was a big one. By God, he was the biggest one I ever heard of.
Larry is survived by his wife Diane and sons Don and Bill, and siblings Donna Mullins, Dorinda Simpson and Richard Marler. Seven grandchildren, four great grandchildren, and too many cousins to count also survive him.
At Larry’s request there will be no memorial service. In lieu of flowers, please donate to Hospice of Kitsap County or to the Maura Marler Pilet Nursing Scholarship at Olympic College.
TRIBUTE Paid Notice
