Larry R. Weir 

(Age 87)

04/12/1934 to 08/16/2021

Lawrence Ralph Weir (Larry) was born on April 12, 1934 in Spokane, Washington and died on August 16, 2021.  He was the 2nd child of Ralph and Mary Weir.  Larry grew up in Spokane attending St. Anthony Grade School and went on to Gonzaga Prep, graduating in 1953.  While at Gonzaga Prep he excelled in sports, particularly football.  He was elected to the All City football team in 1951 and 1952.  He attended Washington State College (now called Washington State University) on a football scholarship, graduating in 1957.  He was also a member of Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity.

Larry loved to tell stories and he had two favorite stories about his years at WSU.  One was a football game played in Pullman in 1956 against San Jose State that had set the record for the least paid attendance of any game in history (one person paid to attend the game).  It was freezing cold. The other story he liked to tell was when he was roommates with Bing Crosby's twin sons.

In 1957 he was drafted into the Army and spent two years at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas at the Staff Command College.  After the Army Larry started his teaching and coaching career at Shelton High School in Shelton, Washington.  In 1960, while hitting the town with some friends, they came upon a wedding reception at the Ben Franklin Hotel in Seattle. He proceeded to walk into the reception and spotted a young woman on the dance floor. He pretended to be an invited guest at the wedding and asked her to dance.  This young woman became his future wife of 60 years, Irene Blattner, from Seattle. Long before the movie came out, Larry always said he was the original wedding crasher.

Larry and Irene were married in 1961.  Their family was started during their time in Shelton, with Kevin being born in 1962, Karen in 1964 and Kyle in 1966.  In 1966 they moved from Shelton to Spokane and Larry started teaching social studies and coaching wrestling at the newly built Ferris High School. In the late 1970's he started and coached the girls' softball team at Ferris. Coaching was his passion and he loved the impact he made on the life of the kids he taught and coached. Foreign studies was always an interest and he chaperoned several People to People tours of Europe for his students. In 1974, Larry was granted a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the University of Mysore, India.  The highlight of that summer was meeting Mother Teresa and learning about her work of caring for the poor. Larry taught at Ferris until 1983 and took an early retirement.  Later that year he started a second career with Piper Jaffery as a Financial Advisor.  This second career in the investment business lasted 20 years until he fully retired in 2003.He was a life member of the Elks club and a member of downtown Rotary Club #21 during his second career working years.  He also was on the board of directors for Morningstar Boys Ranch.

Skiing was the family sport for many years and Larry was on the Mt. Spokane Ski patrol for 29 years. Golfing was never in their list of activities early in life, but as retirement approached, Larry and Irene decided to take up golf and quickly got hooked.  They had visited friends in Arizona and decided they liked the life of being snow birds.  They purchased a winter residence in Peoria, Arizona in 1996 and developed a wonderful network of friends in their dessert community of Westbrook Village.  He was also an avid Seattle Mariners baseball fan and spent 11 years volunteering as an usher for the spring training baseball games at the Peoria Stadium.

Larry is preceded in death by his daughter, Karen (deceased in 1987), and his sister Joy (deceased in 2014). He is survived by wife Irene, sons Kevin, (Gina), and Kyle, (Jennifer) and grandchildren Alex, Allie, Emma, Sophie, Sarah, and siblings Michael (Sharon), Mary Ann Scott, Judy Lennemann (Al), Ralph Jr, and several nieces and nephews. One of Larry's greatest joys in life was talking to former students and having them say "hi Coach, remember when …" His Catholic faith and family first attitude was the back bone of his life. Funeral Mass will be celebrated at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, 34th and Perry, Spokane at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, August 30, 2021.

Thank you to the caring people at Summit Cancer Center, Village Plan Care Management, and Hospice of Spokane for their help in Larry's journey through the end of life. In lieu of flowers, consider honoring Larry with a donation in his name to either Hospice of Spokane or Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church. Online tributes may be made at www.holycrossofspokane.org.

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Published by Spokesman-Review from Aug. 22 to Aug. 25, 2021

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/spokesman/name/larry-weir-obituary?pid=199881485