- Date Of Birth: November 3, 1933
- Date Of Death: June 19, 2021
- State: Massachusetts
Larence (Larry) Harley Smith was born November 3, 1933, in Holdrege, Nebraska, located in the south-central part of the state. He was baptized December 3, 1933, with his grandparents, Larence and Emma Bergstrom, acting as spent his first twelve years on the 160-acre Smith farm, three miles east of Holdrege. There was no electricity or indoor plumbing in the five-room house, which was built by his grandfather, Frank Smith, for his bride, Ida, in the late 1890’s. The home was heated by a wood corn-cob burning range in the kitchen and a large iron coal stove located in the central room. On the property, there was an outdoor three-hole privy, a tornado cellar, and six farm buildings including chicken houses, a barn, a granary, and a hog house. When Larry was twelve the Smith farm was sold for $10,000 and the family moved to the Bergstrom farm, four miles east of the Smith farm. Through the electrification program established in the 1930’s the Bergstrom farm was electrified and it featured indoor plumbing. Larry attended elementary school in a one-room open classroom through the sixth grade and spent the seventh and eighth grades in another one-room environment. At the age of five, showing an interest in music, he took piano lessons, which he continued throughout elementary school. He graduated from Holdrege High School in 1951 and attended Bethany College, a Lutheran-affiliated college in Lindsborg, Kansas, where he received a Bachelor of Music degree majoring in piano performance. At Bethany he played clarinet in the college concert band and string bass in the Bethany College Orchestra, which each year during Holy Week performed Handel’s “Messiah” and Bach’s “St. Matthew’s Passion.”Following graduation Larry enlisted in the U.S. Army, a compulsory draft, and following eight weeks of basic training at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, spent eight weeks at a band training school where he became friends with Herb Alpert. Upon graduation he was assigned to the 30th Army SACOM (Southern Area Command) Band at the McGraw Kasern in Munich, Germany, encountering two weeks of turbulent storms while crossing the North Atlantic on the Bruckner troop ship. The 20-25 instrumentalists of the 30th Army Band were housed in former Luftwaffe officer barracks. Being the only U.S. military band in Bavaria, it was responsible for performing retreats, evening taps, official arrivals, parades, and any functions requested by the Commanding General throughout southern Germany. During this 18-month period, Larry began his life-long love of traveling, and by the end of his commitment he had visited more than a dozen sites throughout Europe. By signing a contract with the Pisgah, Iowa School System, he was discharged from the Army several months early, and arrived stateside in late August. For the next two years he taught vocal and instrumental music in grades 1-12, where he worked to improve the quality and variety of music throughout the system. He was accepted as a graduate student at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston where he spent two years, graduating with a Masters of Music in piano performance. As a member of the school’s choral group, he performed works by Bach, Berlioz, and Mahler with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall under the direction of Charles Munch. During his tenure he worked part-time at the Homeyer Music Company, as the accompanist for the Harvard Medical Chorus, and as director of their Chamber Singers who performed throughout the Boston area, including at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Upon graduation he joined the faculty of the Dana Hall Schools in Wellesley, teaching music to grades 1-6 at Tenacre Country Day School. He was also appointed music director of the Wellesley Community Chorus, and for ten years was the organist-choir director at the recently completed Christ Methodist Church in 1962 Larry purchased his first home in Duxbury, MA, a former blacksmith shop, where he lived for 60 years. During this time, he purchased two abutting properties, the Cottage and the Gatehouse. He offered private piano lessons at his home until his retirement in 2000 and also began experimenting with pastel painting. Over the years he created more than 100 pastel portraits and also composed 18 Christmas carols, liturgical music for the church year, and miscellaneous piano pieces. In 1999 he composed a 40-minute “Requiem for the New Millennium” for piano, baritone, and soprano, which has been performed several times in the Boston area, once in Kansas, and at a three-day festival in Cabrieres d’Avignon, France, in a 16th century a member of the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Plymouth, MA, for more than 40 years, he served as organist, choir director, vice-president of the church council, and was a delegate to the synod convention in New England on many occasions. In retirement he purchased a 260-pipe tracker-action, circa 1962 Fritz Noack pipe organ from Dartmough College, which he enjoyed playing (particularly Bach) for more than 15 years before donating it to the Sisters of St. Margaret convent in Duxbury upon completion of their new chapel, where it is now enjoyed by the Sisters and many worshippers. His other activities included writing and illustrating a children’s book entitled “Memoirs of a Farm Boy.” He also completed a 400-page travelogue describing 55 of the 75 countries that he visited, entitled “A World Beyond the Club Car.” Artifacts that Larry uncovered during his travels formed the basis for his gallery of antique African masks, drums, weaponry, wood carvings, musical instruments, and ceremonial banners and shields. Larry is survived by his brother Tom, sister-in-law Suzie, their two sons Gregory and Eric, their wives Terri and Amy, and five nieces and nephews.
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