THARP, Larry Dean (1953-2023)

THARP

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 4/29/2023 at 15:13:23

Larry Dean Tharp
(December 24, 1953 - January 2, 2023)

Larry Dean Tharp, 69, resident of Indianola, Iowa passed away on January 2, 2023 at Iowa Methodist Medical Center after complications with pneumonia.
Larry was born in Fairfax, Missouri to Herbert Lewis Tharp and Georgia Maxine (Farson) Tharp. He spent his childhood in Atchison County, Missouri and attended the Rock Port School system. In his high school years, he was involved in track and basketball and loved to fish. Larry graduated from Rock Port High School in 1971 and attended college at Northwest Missouri State University. He married Debra Berrier in March of 1974 and eventually moved to Martensdale, Iowa where they raised 4 children. Larry worked most of those early child raising years at Iowa Paint delivering product to retail stores. He did magic shows for local events, bowled on a league in Des Moines, was a member of the Masonic Lodge, and enjoyed fishing on the weekends. In his lifetime, Larry had a variety of jobs: restaurant management, bar tender/food server, bridge construction, and heavy equipment manufacturing. He had a talented green thumb and thrived at gardening and growing plants and vegetables. He enjoyed all nature- bird watching, rock hounding, and knew the name of most any green thing that came out of the ground. He enjoyed music. Larry played the harmonica, liked to have the radio going when gardening, and seemed to have a song or lyric for any conversation. He loved history and spent hours researching family lineage and the local history of places he’d been. Larry loved to joke and laugh, and tell stories. There was nothing better than getting him and a sibling together for story time. In his last few years he moved to Indianola, Iowa and was able to be close to his kids and grandkids. He greatly enjoyed impromptu visits from his grandchildren looking for a chat, wanting to help in the garden, or to grab candy from the bowl.
Larry is survived by his children Madeline (Sean Aldrich), Aaron, Andy (Christy), and Mary (Jon Caskey) all from Iowa, his grandchildren Christian, Emma, John, William, and Claire, his siblings Herb (Diane), Ron, and Bev (Jay Bowman), and many nephews, nieces, and cousins. He also has some neighbors he became close with who meant the world to him in the last few years. Larry is preceded in death by his parents and his twin brother Gary (Carolyn) of Des Moines. A Celebration of Life Open House will be held at Indianola Community Church on January 14th, 6-7 p.m., with a service to celebrate his life starting at 7 p.m. Family will be present to receive condolences and share memories of Larry and have food to share. If you knew him or one of his family, you are welcome to come. [This memorial is provided by Overton Funeral Home, 501 West Ashland Ave., Indianola, Iowa, http://www.overtonfuneral.com/]