Larry Crim - 12/12/25

We gather today to mourn the death of Larry Crim, but even as we do so, we also want to celebrate his life. The Bible offers us hope that today we do not grieve alone,

7 We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. 8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:7-9, NLT)

While we feel the weight of Larry’s loss deeply today, we are reminded that there is a power greater than ourselves found in Christ alone. So, will you bow with me in prayer as we ask for His help today?

Dear Lord, we come today tired and wearied by the weight of our loss. We feel Larry’s death heavily. So Father, today we ask for your strength. Help us to find hope in you, and help us to find joy in Larry’s life, even as we mourn his death. Guide us and strengthen us, we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Larry Dale Crim was born November 22, 1940 in Kirksville, Missouri, the son of George and Juanita (Cline) Crim. On May 24, 1964 he married Joyce Emel in Memphis.

Larry was raised on a farm near Brashear, Missouri, where he attended a one room school until 7th grade. He graduated from Brashear High School in 1958. Following high school, he received his bachelor’s degree from Northeast Missouri State University. Larry began his teaching career in Kahoka, Missouri, before moving to Wyaconda, Missouri, where he continued his teaching career, as well as served as principal. At the same time, he returned to Northeast Missouri State University to earn his master’s degree. Larry relocated to California for a short time, where he taught, before returning to Missouri to farm for a year. He was principal for two years at the Campbell County High School in Gillette, Wyoming before returning, once again, to Missouri to serve as principal of the Memphis, Missouri High School. While in Memphis, he once again attended Northeast Missouri State University, where he received his Education Specialist Degree. In 1978, he moved to LaHarpe, to serve as Superintendent for 6 years. Lastly, Larry was Superintendent of the Union School District in Biggsville, Illinois, until his retirement.

Larry was an avid coin collector, enjoyed drag racing and loved his Buick cars.

He died on Sunday, December 7, 2025 at the age of 85.

He is survived by his wife, Joyce, two children: Brandon (Monica) Crim of LaHarpe, Christina (Christian) Funk of Morristown, New Jersey; four grandchildren: Jared Crim, Victoria (Lance) Crim, Kayla Crim and Jadrien (Dylan) VanFleet; six great-grandchildren; one sister: Charlene (Steve) White of Lone Jack, Missouri; one nephew Kyle (Audrey) White; four nieces: Debbie (Barney) Wellborn, Meagan (Ted) Caugher, Lauren (Tyler) Maniez and Caitlin (Brian) Horner.

He was preceded in death by his parents and one sister: Evelyn Wellborn.

SONG: Old Rugged Cross

Larry Crim was a man that was full of life. He loved his family, loved his work, loved to tell stories, and loved horsepower. Over the years, he invested himself in many different things, and the result was that he made a lasting impact on many people.

Larry grew up on a dairy farm, and very early, he learned the value of hard work. He would often talk about how as a child he would have to complete all his chores before he could do anything that he wanted to do. His father had faced many challenges that meant he understood the importance of hard work, and therefore he didn’t have much time for anything that wasn’t work. While Larry learned the value of work, as life went on, he also learned the value of other things.

It was very important to Larry’s parents that he attended college. He did, and began teaching in Kahoka, MO, initially starting as a drafting and industrial arts teacher. Eventually, he got into administration, first serving as a principal, and later as a superintendent. In the process, he went back to school two more times, first earning a master’s degree, and then earning an education specialist degree. Larry did express some disappointment that if he had gotten his specialist degree a short time later it would have been considered a doctorate, but he didn’t worry too much about titles, he just wanted to do a good job.

When he and the family moved to La Harpe in 1978, Larry became the superintendent of the La Harpe School District, which at that time was spread across buildings in La Harpe, Terre Haute, Durham, and Fountain Green. While everyone loved having a school building in their own town, the financial burden of being so spread out was crippling the district. Larry was tasked with making the difficult decision to close the buildings, one by one, until eventually everyone was under one roof in La Harpe. Though Larry’s decisions weren’t always popular, they did end up putting the district on solid financial footing for the future. He was willing to be unpopular if he thought he was doing what was right and best for the district.

He faced a similar experience when he moved to the Union School District in Biggsville toward the end of his career in education. On his first day, he walked into the middle of a teachers’ strike. He quickly learned to navigate the issue and get everyone back to work, providing the best education possible for the students. Larry was adamant that education was the priority in schools, and made the decision early on that if they were going to have to cut teachers, they were also going to have to cut sports. When people began working to raise funds to save sports, Larry took a stand that any additional funds would be split between sports programs and education. Because he took that stand, he was able to save and build up both.

The Union district faced a similar problem that La Harpe had faced, and they needed to bring the different schools together under one roof. Larry worked together with the school board to build consensus and come up with a plan to build a new building that would house everyone together. As they worked through the process, it became apparent that there wasn’t going to be enough money to include everything they had initially wanted, and they made some tough decisions about what to cut. Fortunately, Larry had also made some wise decisions earlier, choosing to invest the money they had saved. By the time they began building, he had earned enough interest that they were able to restore many of the projects they had thought they were going to have to cut.

When they did the building project for the Union School, they didn’t have anyone managing the project…so it fell to Larry to do it. Thankfully, he knew about reading blueprints and how things should be done, so he was able to do a good job of keeping things on track, but it was a huge burden to add to someone who was already in charge of managing a school district. When the project was completed, Larry was spent, and decided it was time to retire.

Though he may have retired from education, he continued to work in many different capacities. He sold cars for a time, then worked at Big Bear, Dadent, and the Westland Mall. He was always keen to stay busy in some way. That work ethic his father had instilled made a huge impact on him.

But Larry was not all work and no play. He loved to build and fix things, and loved to work on (and drive) cars. Larry was able to fix just about anything. Growing up, Jadrien believed that Grandpa Larry and Uncle Brandon could fix anything. So any time something broke, she brought it to one of them. Most of the time, she was right.

When Larry built things, he built them strong. I’m told that Larry’s philosophy was that if two screws was good, four screws was even better. He once built a TV stand for Christy and Christian and was proud that he could easily stand on it and have it hold his weight. Both Brandon and Christian learned a lot about building things from working together with Larry.

When he got older and wasn’t able to do the things he used to do, he and Joyce both found it weird to have to call in a repairman to do things. They’d never had to do that before, but came to realize that’s simply a part of growing older.

Larry loved powerful and fast cars. He loved drag racing and enjoyed participating in drag races (mostly legal ones…) over the years. I’m told this almost got him in trouble once when they lived in California. He and a buddy had been enjoying driving their vehicles quite fast when the California Highway Patrol caught up with them. As teachers, they were afraid they were going to lose their jobs, but thankfully the judge showed them mercy and let them off with a stiff fine.

He loved to share those interests with the kids and grandkids. I’m told there was a night when Larry was so proud because both Tori and Jared had gotten to make a pass in his car at the drag strip, and Tori actually recorded a faster time than her brother!

He and Brandon spent many hours working together in the garage on all manner of vehicles. In his younger years, Larry was fond of finding a good deal on a truck or other vehicle and then fixing it up. Often, he’d end up having someone make him an offer, and if the price was right, he’d sell it and start the process over again. Brandon recalled being heartbroken on more than one occasion when his dad sold a truck he’d come to love.

At the house at Stevenson Lake, they often worked on cars in the little two car garage there. Joyce remarked that the bedroom was right next to the garage, and she recalled many nights falling asleep with the smell of gasoline heavy in their room!

I’m told that even when he got older and couldn’t get around much, he still loved horsepower. He loved his John Deere tractor and working around the yard, and even once he stopped driving around town, he would drive to the end of his drive to get the mail. It was not uncommon to hear him do a little burnout on his way back up to the house.

He also did lots of work around the house. He and Brandon built an addition onto the house at the lake. I’m told that while Larry could build most anything, drywall was his nemesis. Because Larry’s approach was that if a little was good, more was better, it meant his drywall efforts usually involved LOTS of sanding. He had a video he used to watch over and over again about drywalling, and Jadrien would often crawl up into his lap and watch it with her grandpa. I don’t know if she’s much of a drywaller today, but she surely learned the basics sitting on Grandpa’s lap.

As much as Larry enjoyed all of these things though, his greatest love was his family. When Larry and Joyce got married, Joyce hadn’t finished college yet. When they started a family, she was still in school. Fortunately, Larry wasn’t about to be a dad who sat back while his wife raised the kids. He was a very present and engaged dad to both of his children. He didn’t merely endure their presence, he greatly enjoyed being with them.

Christy remembered many times of being able to go to the office with her dad. They would always split a can of Mountain Dew and eat unsalted peanuts together. That simple tradition became incredibly meaningful to both of them. She recalled one time that she flipped his nameplate upside down on his desk, and laughed because he didn’t notice for several days, though I’m sure many others did!

Larry had learned to cut hair at an early age, and was often tasked with cutting Joyce’s father’s and brothers’ hair when he was around. This skill actually came in handy once when Christy had been unable to get into the salon before a dance. She asked Larry if he could cut her bangs for her. Larry did a really good job on them, except for the fact that he had cut her bangs when they were wet, and didn’t take into account what would happen once they dried out. Her hair ended up being quite a bit shorter than she’d hoped, but she was still grateful her dad was able to tackle the task.

As a principal and superintendent, he and Joyce got to attend several proms together, and enjoyed getting dressed up to do so. You might not have known it, but Larry was actually a pretty good dancer, even winning a square dancing contest in his younger years!

When his kids got older, he enjoyed being a part of their families as well. He loved getting to go out to New Jersey and eat salad and clam chowder with Christy. He was thrilled at the opportunity to visit Germany, as he never really expected to get to travel to Europe. He enjoyed that Brandon and Monica were nearby and he could be a part of everything they did. He loved having family dinners and getting everyone together, even if it was as simple as going out for Hardee’s or Long John Silver’s after church. On the 4th of July, he loved having homemade ice cream (though, in fairness, he loved ice cream at any time!) and would have two freezers full of it for when everyone came over that day.

As much as he loved his kids, he probably loved his grandkids even more. He wanted to support them in everything they did, and he loved having them over at the house. Each of the grandkids remember that their grandpa helped them feel loved and cherished when they were around him. He would always want to know what was going on in their lives, and wanted them to know he believed in them as well. When they got married, their spouses were treated as part of the family as well. He genuinely cared for these people and wanted them all to know they mattered to him.

Even when the kids were ornery, Larry usually had a solution. I’m told that Jadrien and Tori used to fight over who got to sit in Grandpa’s chair. Larry’s solution was simple. They each got half. One side was Jadrien’s, and the other was Tori’s. Tori recalled a time just recently, when she was pregnant with Luke and was having a rough day. Larry just patted his lap and told her to come and sit with him. He knew that even as an adult (and soon-to-be parent) sometimes you just need to know you’re still someone’s grandbaby.

I’m told that Larry had ended up training Jared quite well in knowing country music, because that’s always what they listened to in the car (though I think Grandpa Boyd might have also contributed to this). Jared has an encyclopedic knowledge of country music, even going back to the 1950’s, because he spent many years listening alongside his grandpa.

Larry was proud of his family. He thought highly of his wife. He believed she was smarter than him, and he relied heavily on her and placed great value on her insight and perspective. He was proud of the people his children had become, and loved the people they chose to marry. And he was so proud of each of his grandchildren, and loved getting to see them establish their own lives, spread their wings, and become the people he knew they could be. And though it was often loud, he loved having all the great-grandchildren around as well. Few things brought Larry as much joy as having his family all together.

Larry understood the things that truly matter in life. It’s important to work hard and do your best in the work you do. It’s also important to have fun, to take time to enjoy the blessings of life, and not just put all your energy into a job. But he also understood the importance of people. He knew that people matter, and so they shouldn’t be seen simply as a means to an end, but you should take the time to listen, to understand, and to get to know people. Nowhere is that more important than in your own family. Larry Crim seemed to understand these things intuitively—and we are all blessed because he did.

SONG: Softly and Tenderly

I’ve talked a lot about the kind of man that Larry Crim was today. I had a great deal of respect for Larry, and enjoyed having the opportunity to talk with him on many occasions through the years. As I look at his family and the impact he made on each of them, I see that Larry seemed to understand the things that were truly important in life.

I believe Larry understood that the most important thing in life was not family—it was faith. Larry and Joyce were always active in church, because they felt it was an important element of their lives. They led youth group together, Larry often participated in the Passion play at the Christian Church (usually growing out his beard and playing the Apostle Peter), and they made it a point to be in worship often. Though Larry wasn’t able to attend worship as regularly in his later years, that didn’t change his commitment to Christ.

Often, when people die, we comfort ourselves by saying, “They’re in a better place.” And the Bible promises us that there is a better place. The Bible promises that Heaven is a place where we are delivered from the pain and suffering of this world, and set free to live life as God truly intended us to live. But many people have a distorted notion of how a person actually gets to Heaven.

Most people will tell you that “good people” go to Heaven when they die. I often like to ask what determines whether a person is a good person or not. The response I hear most often is, “Well, I mean Hitler isn’t going to be there.” I’ve got to admit, if the bar for heaven is simply not being a dictator who commits mass murder, then the bar is pretty low. The truth is, most of us can’t delineate what makes someone a “good person.” But we generally assume that we are.

The Bible, however, does tell us what God considers to be a good person. It is a person who has perfectly followed God’s commands. Someone who has never violated any of God’s laws. That person is good and worthy of Heaven. I don’t know about you, but I don’t meet that criterion. That ship has sailed a long time ago for most of us. According to the Bible, none of us deserves to go to Heaven when we die. So, does that mean that nobody “goes to a better place?”

On the contrary. The Bible tells us that despite our sinfulness, despite the fact that we do not deserve to spend eternity in Heaven, God has provided a way for us to be made right once more, even though we aren’t good enough and we don’t deserve it. Jesus came to earth to offer himself as a sacrifice for our sin. He paid the penalty that you and I deserve so that we may experience Heaven when we die. But not everyone is forgiven. Listen to what Jesus said in John 11.

25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. 26 Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?” (John 11:25-26, NLT)

Jesus says that He is the source of forgiveness, and that everyone who lives and believes in Him will have eternal life. In other words, the people who go to Heaven when they die are not the “good people” (because there are none), but the people who have placed their faith in Jesus to forgive them and seek to follow Him in the way they live their lives. Those people can face death with hope and confidence—not because they are good enough, but because Jesus is.

I believe Larry had such faith. I believe he had trusted Jesus for forgiveness. I believe he understood he wasn’t good enough and couldn’t earn salvation—but that Jesus had made it possible for him to be forgiven. He was not afraid of death, because he knew where he was going. And so today, we do not mourn for Larry Crim, because he has lost nothing. In fact, he has gained everything. Today he is more alive than he has ever been.

Our grief today is for our loss. We will miss the times of sitting around the table talking and telling stories. We’ll miss his hugs, or sitting on his lap. We’ll miss his raucous laughter when things really got him going. But there’s good news for us as well. Larry’s death is not the end of the story, and similarly, when our lives on this earth come to an end, the story is not over either. The Bible teaches us that there is life beyond the grave, so we should prepare for what lies ahead.

Notice the question Jesus asked of his friend Martha: do you believe this? Ultimately, that is the question each of us must answer for ourselves. There is hope, there is life beyond the grave, but it is only for those who have placed their trust in Jesus. My hope today is that you will be driven to ask yourself, do I believe this? Am I willing to bet my life on Jesus and follow Him, trusting that He has paid the price for my sin? My hope today is that, like Larry Crim, you will place your trust in Christ, knowing that by doing so, you can face anything, even death, with confidence.

As we conclude today, I want to draw a few lessons from the life of Larry Crim

1. It is important to work hard at whatever you do. If something is worth doing, then it’s worth doing well. If you work hard, you can make an impact that goes far beyond yourself.

2. There’s also value in the simple pleasures of life: a quarter mile driven as fast as you can, a nice bowl of clam chowder, or a time of sitting and sharing stories. These things are valuable too, and should be cherished and made a priority.

3. There’s never a bad time to eat ice cream.

4. Education is valuable, regardless of whether you get a degree, or a title, or anything else. None of us knows everything, so we should choose to never stop learning.

5. If people are important to you, you should make sure they know it. Tell them often, and show it in the way you treat them.

6. Investing your money is a good idea, and if you’re prudent with your finances, it may end up allowing you to do things you never thought you could.

7. Investing in people, however, will always pay off. When you take time to show people they matter, you will make an impact on them, and it’s hard telling how far that impact will go.

8. Just because you’re older, it doesn’t mean you have to stop having fun. Sometimes it just means you start doing burnouts in the driveway instead of at the drag strip.

9. Finally, death is a part of life, and it is something each of us will face. So we must decide in advance where we stand with Jesus. Because in the end, it’s the most important decision we can make. It will affect us both in this life, and in the one to come.

Will you pray with me?

Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the life of Larry Crim. We are grateful for the life he lived and the impact he made on so many. Thank you for the lessons we learn from his life. May we take those lessons to heart and put them into practice in our lives. But above all, we thank you for Jesus. Thank you for making it possible for us to face death with the confidence that Jesus has made it possible for us to live even though we die. As these friends and family grieve Larry’s death, may you bring them the comfort that comes from the knowledge that this life is not all there is. Grant them strength, comfort, and hope in the days, weeks, and years ahead. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.