Lareth "Larry" Eugene Pope

Lareth (Larry) Eugene Pope - Born Oct 5, 1943, in Dallas, OR to Chester and Maxine (Meyer) Pope. The first of five siblings. His mother and father married on January 9, 1943, and about 2 weeks later Chester joined the efforts in WWII as part of the Army Air Corp. Larry was born while Chester was in the war and was almost 21 months old when he “met” his dad for the first time. Eventually, 4 more children were added to the family. In 1953 Larry’s parents bought a dairy farm in Dallas, Oregon. The Pope Dairy was their life for many years. Larry graduated in 1961 from Dallas High School and continued working on the dairy.

On December 24, 1965, Larry joined the United States Marine Corps Reserves where he served until his Honorable Discharge in April 1971.

In the summer of 1967, Larry’s barber set him up on a blind date with the barber’s stepdaughter, Connie. Their first date involved driving around in a pickup truck looking for a spotlight. Connie went home from that date and told her roommate, “I’m going to marry that guy.” Three months later when he went to pick her up for a date, she loaded her stuff in his truck and told him they were getting married. On November 11, 1967, they did just that in the living room of Larry’s grandparents’ home in Dallas, OR. Larry always said he chose that date because he would never forget their anniversary since they got married on the birthday of the United States Marine Corps.

After getting married, Larry and Connie moved to a 2nd Pope Dairy location in Falls City, OR. They lived there and worked the dairy for about a year. Deciding dairy life was not for them, Larry started working for the City of Salem for a time until he then joined the police force for the City of Lebanon, OR and they moved to Lebanon. He then became a deputy Sheriff with the Linn County Sheriff’s Department and they moved to Albany, OR. In 1972 they welcomed their one and only child, Marie. At some point after that, Larry left police work and worked in the Construction industry where he used his skills in construction and carpentry to build many homes, including one for his own family in Corvallis, OR, where they lived for about 10 years. After 5 years in the construction world, Larry decided to return to police work and began working for the Marion County Sherriff’s Department. He made that commute from Corvallis for about 2 years until he was hired as a police officer at the Corvallis Police Department. He rose through the ranks there and when he retired in 1999 after a total of 26 years in law enforcement, he was an acting Captain.

Along with law enforcement, Larry’s true passion was serving the Lord through foreign and local mission work. Larry and Connie took their first short-term foreign mission trip to Japan in 1983. They took another short-term trip to Japan, one to Korea, and 2 to Ukraine. After his retirement, he began taking longer trips, often staying for a month or more. His long-term trips took him to Kosovo, Peru, Indonesia, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Japan. He also became very active with the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief. This organization feeds local residents and first responders after a natural disaster in the United States and beyond. He took many trips to feed people and especially enjoyed serving with his great friend, John Espland, whom he has been reunited with in heaven. Larry went many times to Louisiana and Texas after hurricanes. He served other places after tornados and floods.

Since Marie was an only child, and had the only grandchildren, Larry and Connie left Oregon after Larry’s retirement in 1999 and moved to San Diego, CA, to be close to Marie and Nick as they began to have children. In December of 1999, they drove from Oregon to San Diego in a borrowed motor home and lived in Marie’s backyard in San Diego while Larry and Nick added 750 square feet onto Nick and Marie’s house. Larry was a doting grandfather to Ryan (2000) and Drew (2002). He loved spending time with them and often gave them treats even when they were in trouble. As they grew, he and Connie were always there for all school and sporting activities. In 2008, Nick and Marie felt God calling them to move to the small town of Morton, Illinois. Larry and Connie followed and ended up living across the street from the Harms. In both San Diego and Morton, Larry would quickly get involved with supporting his local church and with some kind of mission work. In late 2013, both families felt the Lord leading them to move to Monroe, North Carolina, where Larry’s sister (Denise) and husband lived. Larry and Connie bought a house on 12 acres and subdivided it to allow the Harms to put a home on half the property. Larry soon became very involved with volunteering as a “handyman” and doing yard maintenance at the Wycliffe Apartments – apartments for retired Wycliffe Missionaries (Wycliffe Bible Translators). After volunteering for a while, Larry was eventually brought on as a part-time staff member where he worked until about 4 or 5 months before his death. He and his “partner” Bob Seavey (who was actually his supervisor) had a lot of fun, caused trouble sometimes, and still managed to get their work done. Larry loved working with Bob and serving the residents of the Wycliffe Apartments. It was a very hard decision for him when he finally had to stop working.

Throughout his life, Larry’s extracurricular interests involved shooting competitions, handball, racquetball, softball, puzzles, and stained-glass making. He learned the art of making stained-glass hangings sometime in the late 1980s and continued making pieces until late 2022 – probably almost 40 years. After his cancer diagnosis in December 2020, he made pieces for his oncologist, his hospice nurses, his palliative care doctor, the residents of the Wycliffe Apartments, his friends, Marie’s friends, and anyone else he could think of that would want one. He and Marie spent many hours together while he taught her how to make stained-glass pieces in the winter and spring of 2021. They also put together about 30-40 puzzles.

Larry was diagnosed with lung cancer on December 3, 2020 (even though he never smoked). He went through 1 round (3 days) of chemo but it made him so sick that he decided not to do any more. In January 2021, due to what was probably some kind of infection in his lung, along with the tumor, he was given about 2 weeks to live if he didn’t seek treatment in the hospital. He chose no treatment and went home under hospice care. A little over a year later he was “kicked off” hospice because he was doing too well! We were blessed with much more time than we expected. At the beginning of 2023, we saw his stamina and overall health start to go downhill. He went back under hospice care in March 2023. We were able to care for him at home until August 2 when he was moved to the McWhorter Hospice House where he went to be with Jesus at 7:45 PM on August 3, 2023 (2 years and 8 months to the day after his diagnosis). He was so ready to see Jesus and be done with the suffering here on Earth. His hope was always in the Lord, and he loved and served Him faithfully.

Larry is survived by his beloved and adoring wife, Constance (Connie) Pope, of Monroe, NC, his “favorite” (only) daughter, Marie Harms of Monroe, NC; his “favorite” (only) son-in-law, Nick Harms; his pride and joy grandsons Ryan and Drew Harms of Monroe, NC; his siblings Lanny (Sue) Pope of Dallas, OR; Denise (Frank) Doejaaren of Waxhaw, NC; Randy (Terri) Pope of Dallas, OR; and Leanne (Chuck) Hubbard of Dallas, OR. He is also survived by his sister-in-law Lyn Krauss of Spokane, WA, and many aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, Chester and Maxine Pope, and his grandparents, Louis and Emma Meyer, and Rollin and Florence Pope.

A Celebration of Life Service is scheduled for Saturday, September 30, 2023, at 1:00 PM at Lee Park Church (2491 Morgan Mill Road, Monroe, NC 28110), followed immediately by a visitation and a dessert reception.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating in Larry’s honor to Wycliffe Bible Translators or Samaritan’s Purse.

Online condolences may be made at www.gordonfuneralservice.com

Gordon Funeral Service and Crematory, 1904 Lancaster Ave, Monroe, NC 28112 is honored to be entrusted to care for the Pope Family.