Coping with Grief
We would like to offer our sincere support to anyone coping with grief. Enter your email below for our complimentary daily grief messages. Messages run for up to one year and you can stop at any time. Your email will not be used for any other purpose.
LAWRENCE JAMES SIMMONS, June 28 1938 – January 17, 2022
Larry Simmons lived and died at home, just as he desired.
Born in Rochester NY in 1938 to John James Simmons and Hazel Warburton Simmons, Larry was the only boy amongst three sisters. He grew up hunting and fishing with his Dad, beginning at age 3 with weekly fishing excursions on Canandaigua Lake that would last a life time.
Always one to enjoy hands-on work, as a child little Larry helped the family make ends meet by sweeping up sawdust behind the butcher counter for one of the first Wegman’s stores. As a teen Larry delivered newspapers with his lifelong friend Father Peter Deckman; plus helped fill jelly donuts each Saturday morning at a bakery on Thurston Road in Rochester.
A hip condition kept Larry on crutches during his teenage years; but he swam competitively on the high school swim team. Larry graduated from Edison Technical & Industrial High School in Rochester in 1957. He immediately began working with Rochester Telephone Co., as a frame man, then moved on to installing and repairing home phones, then repairing cable.
On September 5, 1959 Larry married his high school sweetheart, Patricia Anne Peters. They had five children within 8 years. In addition to working with RTC, Larry also pumped gas, repaired homes, sold antiques, and logged wood. The Simmons family moved from Rochester to Elba NY in 1972, so the children could grow up surrounded by farms, fields and streams. And onions, lots of onions.
Larry’s 1990 retirement from the telephone company at age 52 allowed him to fill his days how he desired. Always hands-on, he joined Norton Farms to help with milking, field work and machine repair. Larry built and rented hunting camps, helped friends and family remodel older homes, and hunted and fished as much as he could.
Larry served Our Lady of Fatima Church in Elba NY as Director of Religious Education. From 1992-2002, he also voluntarily maintained the Church property, including rebuilding the shrine, rebuilding the confessional, and building a class room addition. In 1998 Larry was presented with the Lay Award of St. Joseph the Worker by Bishop Mansell of Buffalo, in recognition of Larry’s outstanding, unselfish service to the Church.
In 2001 Larry and Pat purchased a summer cottage at Vine Valley on Canandaigua Lake. They enjoyed nearly two decades of summer fishing, hiking, swimming, boating, canoeing and kayaking with children, grandchildren, and friends.
In 2018, Larry was forced to modify his active lifestyle, as he was stricken with the triple threat of Parkinson’s disease, Lewy body dementia and normal pressure hydrocephalus. Confined to a wheelchair as he lost the ability to stand, walk, or even roll over in bed, Larry maintained an amazingly inspirational zest for life. His cadre of caregivers, “Larry’s Ladies & Gents,” helped him with every single Activity of Daily Living. Larry gleefully and thankfully accepted their caring assistance, especially when they loaded his wheelchair into the LarryVan, put it in high gear, and went out for a ride. Larry visited farms to check on the cows and horses; stuck a fishing pole in any body of water possible; and supervised every home repair undertaken. Larry enjoyed good food, good fun, and good people all his days.
Larry’s wife Patricia Anne (Peters) Simmons lives in Rochester. He has five children, eleven grandchildren, and six great grandchildren.
Larry is survived by his older sister, Vivian Kurt, of Rochester NY and his younger sister Joan Markese of Martinsburg PA. His younger sister, Susan Martin died in 2019 with Alzheimer’s disease; as did his father, John James Simmons, in 2005. Larry is a tissue donor and brain research donor.
In keeping with Larry’s wishes to keep things simple, there will be a brief life celebration on Wednesday January 19, 2022, at 4:30 pm at the Lincoln Room, 28 W. Market Street, West Chester PA.
After that, Larry’s remains will be brought to his final resting place at Maple Lawn Cemetery in Elba, NY.
Memorial donations can be made to the LJS Memorial Legacy Fund, Chester County Community Foundation, 28 W. Market St. West Chester PA 19382, https://chescocf.org/fund/ljs-memorial-legacy-fund/ 610.696.8211. Donations will be used for grants to charities that support causes Larry cared about: wilderness conservation, outdoor recreation, hunting & fishing; agriculture & farming; trade schools, especially cars & construction; swimming, life guarding & water rescue; and Alzheimer’s, Lewy body dementia, Parkinson’s research & care.
Arrangements by DellaVecchia, Reilly, Smith & Boyd Funeral Home, Inc. 610-696-1181, www.DellaFH.com
LJS Memorial Legacy Fund, Chester County Community Foundation
28 West Market Street, West Chester PA 19380
Tel: 1-610-696-8211
Web: https://chescocf.org/fund/ljs-memorial-legacy-fund/