Lawrence William Werner
August 21, 1916 - December 2, 2008
Obituary
Larry Werner
Biography
Lawrence William Werner was born on August 21, 1916 in Hastings Minnesota. He was the first born son to Margaret and Nicholas Werner and was known to everyone as ‘Larry’ or ‘L.W. Werner’. Larry had a younger brother Alfred Al who was born 1 ½ years later on Feb. 03, 1918. Larry and Al’s father died of influenza when the boys were very young at ages 2 & 3 years old. Margaret and her boys moved to the Seattle area around 1920 and Margaret took a position as a cook on a chicken ranch in Kent, Washington to support her and her boys. While growing up in the Seattle area, Larry and Al both worked odd jobs in the area to help support the family. After graduating from school, Larry worked in the Seattle area as a blue printer.
Larry’s passion in life… to be a cowboy.
Larry worked and saved his money to buy his first car and horse. Larry enjoyed pleasure riding with friends and took an active interest in rodeo. He started his rodeo career Saddle Bronc riding in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s. He was drafted into the Army on July 08, 1941 and was deployed from Fort Lewis, WA to the South Pacific. He was wounded in combat in 1945 and after receiving a Purple Heart was released from the service with an Honorable Discharge. After returning home to the Seattle area, Larry continued his western lifestyle and interests. He turned to roping and he began participating in local rodeos in the calf roping event. Larry became an active rodeo member of the ‘Turtle Association’ which was renamed and known today as ‘PRCA’ Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.
Larry met his wife, Alice Jessee while living in the Seattle area after returning home from the war. They were married on June 26, 1950 in Seattle and lived on the Fort Lewis military base until buying a 10 acre place in Kent, Washington in 1952. Larry and Alice continued their western lifestyle and Larry was the first of their friends to build a roping arena complete with calf roping chutes. Many of these friends came to rope and visit on the weekends on a regular basis. Alice and the other women prepared numerous meals weekend after weekend as the friends gathered. Larry and Alice were also active members of a pleasure riding club in Renton, Washington as well as participating in trail riding in the mountains with many of their friends. At some point during this era, Larry acquired his favorite roping horse. A beautiful red roan mare lightly dusted with small grey spots. He named her Roni and his attachment and love for her was genuine, compassionate and obvious. She was his pride and joy and Roni’s performance and love for Larry was openly displayed and affectionately returned.
Some of Larry’s other interests included photography, wood working, and leather work. Larry hand crafted many leather items such as belts for him and others, leather purses for Alice and a gun holster for himself. He hand tooled every item and was complimented often on the beautiful detail and workmanship he did. Larry and Alice started a family when their first born daughter, Dawn Maria, was born on November 02, 1957. Another daughter, Daria Larrice, was born 16 months later on March 09, 1959. There were no sons born to Larry, however, Daria’s baby card from her dad states girls can rope too! Larry’s rodeo participant activities ceased as he began working for Pacific Propeller Incorporated in Seattle. Later PPI was relocated to Kent, Washington where Larry continued to work and after approximately 30 years of service, retired at age 70.
Larry and Alice attended yearly PRCA rodeos as spectators at Ellensburg, Roy and various other locations in Washington for many years. Larry and Alice maintained their western life style throughout their lives and always had horses, cattle and other animals on their land. Larry rode horses with his daughters while they were growing up and started with putting Dawn in the saddle with him when she was two years old. Larry’s creativity in wood working showed when he built his girls a unique teeter-totter that rotated around on wheels while also moving up and down at the same time. The girls and neighbor friends played for hours on their special teeter-totter that their dad had built for them. Larry frequently had to replace the wheels and metal sheeting on the base plate due to excessive use. Larry taught his daughters the western life style. As they grew older they helped their dad build fences, feed cattle, care for animals, and drive tractors and other responsibilities that the country western lifestyle required. Larry used his tractor to cut and rake hay fields for others and himself while a neighbor nearby bailed the hay. Larry’s girls would wait for hours at the end of the driveway listening for their dad’s tractor coming down the road. They wanted to ride on the back of the tractor up the driveway with their dad. As the girls were growing up, Larry and Alice traveled the West on vacations taking their daughters many places and visiting many states. By the time his girls were in their late teens, the girls had been in every state North and West of Texas, including Canada and had visited many popular tourist attractions and many well know rodeos. As the girls grew up, married and moved on, Larry and Alice remained on their place maintaining their lifestyle. After 47 years of marriage, Larry lost his wife, Alice, in October 1997 to fibrosis of the lung. Larry remained living at his home until the age of 91 and never remarried. At age 91, Larry moved to the Garden Terrace Adult Home in Federal Way, Washington, where staff and daughter, Dawn, cared for him until his death.
Throughout Larry’s life he met many people and was extremely rich in friends. Larry was a kind hearted, soft spoken, respectful and proud man. He was the cowboy that little boys dreamed about and other men envied. Larry was loved by many and constantly related to his daughters his love for them and how proud he was of all their achievements in life. In closing, Larry’s daughters, Dawn and Daria fondly reflect upon their childhood and cherish both their parents and the lifestyle they lived as a family. When talking amongst friends and family, they are usually the first to say how much they loved their childhood and simply wouldn’t change a thing. They would gladly relive it all over again.
Dad: May you always sit tall in your saddle and your loop always hit. We miss you dearly and will always love you. Thank you for being the wonderful dad you were.
Below I pasted a letter that I wrote to Uncle Larry a couple of years ago. I was at the airport when I saw a collection of ceramic horses that were painted many different colors and depicting several western scenes. The one I picked out had several rodeo scenes.
Dear Uncle Larry,         2/22/2006
When I first saw this I thought of you right away and knew I had to get it for you. It brought back great memories of my childhood with my Uncle Larry.
I thought about the times when our family would come out to the ‘ranch’ on a Sunday and watch you and the other cowboy’s sitting on the rails of the fence and watching the riders chase down the calf so they could rope them and tie their legs together I know there’s a name for this but being a city slicker, I forgot. I would walk around in cowboy boots and hat and think I was a big shot. I remember all the great times us kids had playing in the barn, catching frogs and pollywogs in the pond. I can’t remember the little girl that lived behind you but remember walking over to see her as often as I could.
I thought about all the year’s you attended the Ellensburg Rodeo and all the fun you must have had. I’m sure you miss it a lot.
I also thought about my first electric train that Uncle Larry bought for me at Christmas. I loved it. I also remember leaving on the transformer while eating dinner and my folks punished me by not letting me play with the train for an hour or so. All I could do was sit and look at it and wanting to play with it so bad. I know you bought Louise and I a lot of presents that my folks couldn’t afford and treated us just like your own.
It brought back memories of our trip to Minnesota in your new 1947 or 48 Desoto convertible. It was a shiny gold color with a tan roof and I remember stopping to sleep one night and we must of been right beside the railroad tracks because there were a lot of trains that went by that night. What a great trip that was and I’ll never forget it. You and Dad in the front seat and Mom and Louise and I in the back seat.
It’s funny how you can hold something in your hand and a flash of memories come at you. That’s what happened when I held this and just knew I had to get it for you. I’m sure this one little item can hold many great memories for you as it did for me.I hope you enjoy my gift and know that it was purchased with fond memories, lots of love and respect for a great man……..my Uncle Larry!!
With Love,
Your Nephew,Nick
Daria:
What a fantastic tribute you wrote about your dad! and What a fantastic life he led. You and your sister are so blessed to have had the partents you did!
You are in my thoughts and prayers.
June
Daria and Dawn,
I am so sorry for the loss of your wonderful father. I pray God’s awesome love and peace over your lives.
Betty Dawley
Larry was a kind hearted man and I worked and shared a office with him at PPI for a few years before he retired. I was just talking about going to the “Pay-n-Pak†for lunch on Thanksgiving weekend with my family. I said Larry, Al, Ken and I would go there for meatloaf sandwichs and clam chowder. It was one of Larry’s favorite places to go on Friday for lunch while working at PPI. He was a gentleman and a friend and I miss him. He was “one of the good ones.â€
Larry was a good friend, father and somewhat of a mentor to me. He told me stories and thereby taught me what it was to be a man when times required men to be tough. He was also the gentlest man I have ever known. He loved his wife and daughters with a selfless passion no longer seen in this age. I will miss him.