Lawrence Joseph Archer

Born "outside Paris" in the "early part of the 20th century" (his words!), Larry was described as an "international 'bon vivant'" by his mother. He was born in Ossining, New York, and was named after his father and spent his formative years surprising teachers, weeding his mother's gladiolas, parking and washing cars, waiting tables, and spending time with his sisters Gerry and Ceil and cousins who lived nearby. He attended Archbishop Stepinac High School and later studied engineering (following in his brother-in-law Joe's footsteps) at Manhattan College in the Bronx.

Upon moving to Connecticut after graduation, he was shortly asked to travel to Europe for business for "a few weeks" to assist the delivery of KLM's first 747. He finally returned 6 years later, having visited nearly every continent (5 of the 7) and traveling entirely around the globe at least once. He was stationed in Holland, England, and France, and worked in such far-flung locations as Nairobi, Kenya, Johannesburg, South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Istanbul, Senegal, and Algeria.

After a chance meeting on the Leidseplein in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) with a charming brunette named "Barbara", he initiated a courtship by making numerous, long-distance phone calls from Amsterdam to Michigan. When Larry moved to London, Barbara moved to Seattle. When Larry moved to Paris, Barbara moved to Alaska! When she came back from her adventure, he sent her last letter back. Unopened. Then next day, a one-way plane ticket appeared in the mail, inviting Barbara to Paris to go to the Moulin Rouge, the real Moulin Rouge.

After proposing in April in Paris, they travelled back to Amsterdam to find a diamond and choose a setting at the goldsmith's...on the other side of the town (with the diamond cutter's apprentice leading the way)! After that, Larry decided he needed to bid farewell to his customers in Africa, so, with Barbara and his good friend (and boss) Bernie in tow, he flew south.

Whilst in Kenya, the three went on safari! They saw all the different kinds of animals: giraffes, elephants, both kinds of rhinoceros, gazelles, cheetah, zebras, and cape buffalo, among others. They stayed at the world famous Ark safari lodge as well as the Mount Kenya Safari Club and (on another occasion) narrowly avoided having their tents trampled by elephants in the night!

Three MONTHS later, they were married in a ceremony in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Yes, there really is a Kalamazoo! Their honeymoon was a flight out to Seattle and a cross-country road trip to drive Barb's Camaro back to their new home in West Hartford, Connecticut. They made a slight detour to Yellowstone National Park, an early indication of a later fascination with National Parks.

The first of two sons, "Little" Larry, was born two years later. Larry the father embarked upon his final formal schooling and earned an MBA from the University of Hartford. Soon after he finished and Little Larry turned two, a second son was born, Bert. Little Larry was, of course, named for his father (who had been named for his father), and Bert was named for Barb's father, at Larry's insistence!

Raising two boys, Larry worked hard, moved his family to St. Louis, Missouri, enrolled his boys in the Cub Scouts/Boy Scouts, and coached various sports teams (baseball especially being a big hit: "take these hot dogs and this son to this field"), took the family to Cardinals baseball games, and made sure to teach the boys how to be good men.

There was one summer where he was in Mesa, Arizona for a project and the family visited him for a month. Another time, they went to the Grand Canyon. A word to the wise: don't take sodas to drink, when hiking. Especially not in a desert. Furthermore: wear sunscreen, especially when floating down a river (in a desert) on an inner tube. Some years later, Larry took his family out to see Yellowstone and he and Little Larry explored all the tops' of Specimen Ridge to see Yellowstone Falls behind. There were other trips to other national parks, national monuments, and other historic sites, including Rocky Mountain NP, Big Bend NP, Mount Rushmore, Badlands NP, St. Augustine NP, and Castillo De San Marcos National Monument, among many others. One trip was with Bert to Isla Morada in the Florida Keys to go scuba diving with the Boy Scouts. Larry had done some diving off the coast of Massachusetts before he was shipped off to Europe. He later took Barb to Grand Cayman so they could dive together! The two of them took several trips west to see Monument Valley, Zion NP, Bryce Canyon NP, and other sublime places.

His recent hobbies were bicycling, woodworking (not cabinetry! (his distinction)) and crafting stained glass windows and tabletops, most of which are reminiscent of their safari to Africa. He also really enjoyed jazz music, noir movies (especially with his all-time favorite actor, Humphrey Bogart!), and cultural excursions (such as operas and art museums).

Most recently, he was called Papa' by his energetically silly grandson, Samuel Lawrence (see the pattern yet?). He was really looking forward to an upcoming trip to New York to see his sisters, nieces, nephews, cousins, grand-nephew, grand-nieces, and aunt.
Larry was preceded in death by his parents and is survived by his wife Barbara Archer, sons Larry Archer and his wife Natalie and Bert Archer, grandson Samuel Lawrence "Sam" Archer, sisters Geraldine Caputo and Celia McPhee and her husband Bob, loving brothers and sisters-in-law, twenty nieces and nephews and many adoring cousins and friends.

A visitation will be held at Allen Family Funeral Options, 2120 W. Spring Creek Pkwy, Plano, Texas 75023 on Sunday, April 13, 2014 from 3:00 - 5:00 PM.

A Mass of the Resurrection will be held at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church, 2700 W. Spring Creek Pkwy, Plano, Texas 75023 on Monday, April 14, 2014 at 3:00 PM with Father Bradley, Celebrant.

In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to Minnie's Food Pantry
http://minniesfoodpantry.org/donate/
or to Isabel's Community Outreach
http://www.icobridge.org/