William Lawrence (Larry) Larson

William Lawrence (Larry) Larson, was called home to heaven on Thursday, October 24th, 2019. He was born at Warner Brown Hospital in Eldorado, Ark., in 1940, to Myrtle Elizabeth McMaster Larson and Willie Lee Larson. He lived in Norphlet, Ark.,s with his family and one brother, Hugh Max Larson (wife Betty). He attended school in Norphlet where he graduated in 1958. He was manager of the sports teams and very involved in First Baptist Church where he accepted Christ at a young age and was active in many church ministries. Larry spent more than 45 years in libraries across Arkansas. Starting out as a library aid in high school. He attended Quachita Baptist University and also worked in the library earning 50 cents per hour toward paying his tuition. He received his BSE degree in 1962. During that summer he served as a library intern at the Harrison Regional Library on the book mobile and would deliver books to rural areas. It was after this summer that he determined his life ministry would be serve people by working in libraries. It gave him great joy to help others learn by reading and understanding how to use information to better themselves that was offered free through a public library. He also worked on his MS in Library Science at Pea Body University in Nashville, Tenn., during the summers between 1964-67. His first real job was teaching speed reading and audio visual class at Hall High School in Little Rock. He taught there 3 years (til 1965) and then he moved to Arkansas Tech University where he was an assistant librarian for one year(1966). In 1966 is when he met his beautiful bride, Dorothy Bing. She was a student librarian. They met and courted for 6 months. He asked her to marry her and they were married for 53 years. The next stop on the library train was at Hendrix College where he was the Government Documents Librarian. (1966-72). Next stop was at University of Arkansas at Monticello where he was the director. (1972-74). From there he was recruited to be the North Arkansas Regional Librarian from 1974-84 where he served 7 counties and helped to reach them with a new book mobile. From there he was recruited to be the Director of the Fort Smith Public Library from 1985-2004. There he was able to serve the people by building four state of the art library buildings that are still serving the area well. He was given the Distinguished Service Award for Librarianship and the Mayors Appreciation Award. He also received the Frances P. Neal Award for Library Service. He was also a member of the Arkansas and American Library Associations. After that, he and his wife, retired to Heber Springs (2004-2010) where they enjoyed the river and lake and some lifelong friends. From there they moved on to Paragould to live by their only daughter, Larisa Wallace and husband Mason Wallace, to be close to their grandkids, Eli and Ty. He was treasure of the Greene County Retired Teachers organization and on the Greene County Library Board. He was Southern Baptist Church Deacon and he loved God, family and Arkansas Libraries. He enjoyed cooking, traveling (48 states) and various projects. He was also known as the "Banana Bread Man", because he was always making and delivering goodies to widows, neighbors, businesses and others. He was preceded in death by his parents. The family will receive friends on Sunday, October 27th, from 6-8 p.m., at Phillips Funeral Home. in Paragould , Ark. The funeral service will be on Monday, October 28th, at 1 p.m., in the Center Hill Chapel of Phillips Funeral Home with Packy Magel officiating. Burial will follow at the Linwood Cemetery. Lasting memorials may be made to the Soaring Wings Ranch, PO Box 1670, Conway, Ark., 72033. Online registry:www.phillipsfuneral.org.