July 6, 1937 - March 10, 2022

Larry Jack Means, incredibly rare human extraordinaire, has left the planet but not our hearts or minds. He will not be forgotten.

Larry was born in Arkansas City, Kansas on July 6, 1937 to Royce E. and Irma D. Means. He has a younger brother and sister, Gary and Nancy. Shelly, his wife, Deborah and Jeanette, his daughters and seven grandchildren, survive him. Royce, Irma, Gary and Darnell, son, preceded in him death.

Larry was one very curious person and loved life’s adventures. He completely believed in doing good for others and practiced that his entire life.

He served in the Army and was stationed in France in 1956 where he worked on telecommunication and crypto machinery. One of his first inventions was in France where he created crypto technology. He explored the French countryside on a motorcycle and went to the LeMans race two years in a row where he camped out in between the tracks of the racecourse. He also visited the Worlds Fair in Brussels.

After his military stint, he worked at Fort Leavenworth Army base again in crypto-communications.

He had a rich professional life and worked in several different technical private industries including Klienschmidt, UARCO and Duff Norton. He was involved in technical product design, was a product manager as well as a sales manager. The last major industry where he worked was the elevator industry where he taught himself how to repair home and commercial elevators and became a certified elevator safety inspector. In his spare time, he owned a couple of small businesses.

Along the way, he won the admiration of his employers and customers.

Passions and interests were varied and many including mining, camping, exploring many unique places especially the southwest, rock collecting, travel, investing, beauty and mysteries of the universe. He read widely.

After retiring, Larry and Shelly moved to Pine Grove, CO where he became active in several local organizations. He served on the North Fork Fire Board. He also helped repair fire trucks for North Fork, the local volunteer fire district. Larry was the Pine-Elk Creek Improvement Assn. president for many years. He helped restore the local historic community building and other historic endeavors including re-claiming the original name of the town back to Pine Grove. He was involved in creating a local historic park.

Larry was indeed a rare, intelligent and kind human and he is profoundly missed.