Larry Raymond Whittaker (1944-2022)

WHITTAKER, MCDANIEL

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 7/13/2022 at 09:59:55

Larry Raymond Whittaker, 77, passed away on July 10, 2022 in Lakeland Florida after a prolonged illness. Private family services and interment will take place at the Muscatine Memorial Park Cemetery Community Garden Mausoleum. A memorial fund has been established at the funeral home in Larry’s name. Sympathy notes may be left for the family at www.sandhfuneralservice.com. Snyder & Hollenbaugh Funeral & Cremation Services of Muscatine is caring for Larry’s family and the arrangements.

He was born in Muscatine, Iowa on July 26, 1944, the son of Dolores McDaniel and Raymond Whittaker. He enlisted in the Navy shortly before his 18th birthday and served on the USS Brush, a destroyer class naval ship, from 1962 to 1965. Married 55 years, he met the love of his life, Linda Diane Schutt, a small-town girl from Calamus Iowa, while cruising the one-ways in Davenport in his 1964 yellow convertible Mustang. They were married in Calamus, Iowa on July 23rd 1966. As a father, Larry enjoyed umpiring youth sports, building model railroads, camping, fishing and going on bicycle rides with his family. He knew the importance of a family supper around the dinner table and annual family summer vacations, the latter usually incorporating a trip to an amusement park in his search for the latest and greatest roller coaster. He had a passion for history and learning and was a lover of movies and music and a collector of what most people would consider “useless knowledge”, making him a formidable Trivial Pursuit opponent. He became a lifelong fan of the St. Louis Cardinals, after listening to their games on the radio as a child. He also loyally followed the “Bears, Bulls and the Rays.” He was an avid bowler from a young age and a little later in life found a love for golf, a game he use to dismiss as a “waste of good real estate”. He passed his passion for sports onto his children with many summer nights being spent together in the backyard with glove and ball in hand. He never missed his children’s games, home or away, or the chance to make sure the officials were “getting the calls right”. Throughout his life, he was never too busy to lend a helping hand with a home renovation project, fix a broken something, or meet for dinner or a round of golf. After 35 years at Monsanto, many of them spent riding his bike back and forth to work, he retired to Florida. He spent those years golfing, playing cards, taking his granddaughter to amusement parks, rekindling his love for model railroading and just enjoying life in general. He will be deeply missed by family and friends but always remembered for his commitment to his family and the life he lived with honor, respect, integrity and honesty.

Larry will be deeply missed by his wife, Linda of Lakeland, Florida; daughter, Jennifer (Rick) Sills of Apopka, Florida; sons, Alan Whittaker of Muscatine and Brian Whittaker of Muscatine; grandchildren, Madison Troche, Reece Whittaker and Beck Whittaker; brother, Rick (Rose) Whittaker of Muscatine and half siblings, Traci (Marty) Miller of Batavia, Tim (Carol) Whittaker of Letts and David (Joanne) Whittaker of West Des Moines.

Larry was preceded in death by his parents and step-parents; sister, Sally Ann Moore; brother, Neil Arthur Whittaker in infancy and half brother, Jeffrey Whittaker.