Larry E. Gee

On March 21, 2022, Larry E. Gee passed from this life into the arms of God after a long four-year battle with PSP, Progressive Supranuclear Palsy. He was born in Sulphur Springs, Texas on April 4, 1935 to L. E. and Henrietta Gee. He was a graduate of Brackenridge High School in San Antonio, Texas in 1953. For the next few years, he attended college and had various jobs. He began working for Western Auto Stores in 1957 and opened the North Star Mall store in 1961, later becoming a district manager in Texas and Louisiana. His career later included owning a sprinkler system company and becoming a custom home builder.

Larry’s first wife was Barbara McDonald Carrola who was the mother of his five children. In 1994, he married Susan Ernst Gee and they were married for twenty-seven years until his death. Larry and Susan enjoyed traveling to Canada and Europe and to many favorite places in the United States, especially Colorado, New Mexico, and California as well as the Texas Gulf Coast. His love of home-building culminated with his dream of designing and sub-contracting the building of a beautiful vacation cabin in Angel Fire, New Mexico in 2002.

Larry loved golf and played it weekly for most of his adult life with his good friend, Buddy Wachel. He also enjoyed everything about Texas history and cut out hundreds of newspaper articles about the Alamo which he kept in a large beautifully-created notebook. He had a genuine interest also in his family genealogy and meticulously chronicled everything he could find going back many centuries. Larry loved building things with wood and when his oldest granddaughter, Maggie, asked him to build her a table for one of her first apartments, he did it with enthusiasm. She helped him design it and it was a project he enjoyed working on for many weeks. There wasn’t a day in his retirement years, that he wasn’t found tinkering at his workbench in the garage making or fixing something. He was very artistic and the grandchildren knew they could always go to him and say “Papa, would you draw me a ____(fill in the blank), and it would be a true work of art when he finished. He could fix just about anything in the house that broke.

In 2018, Larry began having health problems that began with a halting of speech. It took many months of tests at UT Health Science Center with neurologists to determine that he had a rare, degenerative disease called Progressive Supranuclear Palsy. This diagnosis began a health decline that was devastating to a man who prided himself on good health and eating habits. He fought every decline vigorously as his speech worsened no matter how much speech therapy he had. His mobility also worsened and again, he had months and months of physical therapy until the inevitable was obvious. He wasn’t going to get better. He was fighting a brain disease and that acceptance was harsh, but real. He fought the need to use a walker and eventually a wheelchair with every ounce of energy he had. These were monumental setbacks for Larry, but he was forced to trust God, to lean on Him, and to take life, one precious day at a time. Joshua 1:9 reminds us “Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” In late 2020, the harsh decision was made to move Larry to an assisted living. He spent sixteen months at Changing Seasons Assisted Living being cared for by many loving and tender caregivers.

Larry was preceded in death by his parents, L. E. and Henrietta Gee, his daughter, Carol Yantis, and his grandson, Travis Yantis. He is survived by his wife Susan Ernst Gee, his sister Frances White, his brother Tim Gee, (Carol) and his four children Sally England (Bob), Richard Gee (Karen), Nancy Goforth (John) and Larry Gee, Jr. (Cody Matkin); his step-children, John Ernst (Colleen) and Julie Metcalf (Sean). He is also survived by grandchildren Maggie Kosub (Chad), Barbara Charmalian (Armen), Wesley Goforth, Ricky Gee, Sarah Gee, John Sweeney (Nevada), Megan Sweeney (Ryan), Sam Sweeney (Courtney), Hayden Gee and Sam Gee. Step-grandchildren include Macy Metcalf, Marshall Metcalf, Ainsley Ernst, and Crockett Ernst. Great-grandchildren include Liam, Carter, Sienna, and Clara Sweeney; Genevieve and Gavin Kosub; and Dylan Sweeney. Larry was a very proud father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. He had a framed quote on his desk that read, “I have no greater accomplishment than my children.” His favorite pastime in his later years was watching his grandchildren in band concerts, dance recitals, and sports events. He especially enjoyed witnessing the spiritual growth of all the grandchildren from birth until they became young adults.

Larry was blessed to be a member of University United Methodist Church for over twenty-five years. He and Susan belonged to the Believers Sunday School class, and Larry enjoyed riding bicycles with some of the guys and attending all kinds of social events with those class members. He was also an usher at UUMC for many years. Sometimes when his team was short an usher, he’d ask Hayden and later, Sam, his two grandsons, to help out. He was also actively involved in Habitat for Humanity for about ten years.

Special thanks to Dr. Michael Lichtenstein, gerontologist at UT Health, who managed all of Larry’s health problems in his last four years, and to Dr. Alicia Parker, neurologist of UT Health, who gently walked us through many, many tests for a period of almost two years, as she and her team became acquainted with every aspect of Larry’s brain. We were greatly blessed also to have Christus Hospice holding our hands throughout the last months, especially Beverly Tuomala, RN; Tammy Jeffreys, LVN; Jessie, his home health aide, and Don Bailey, chaplain. Also thanks to the many caregivers and staff at Changing Seasons Assisted Living. Wyndee Martin, you were a special advisor and solver of all our problems who loved Larry through the difficult transition of moving to an assisted living. Thanks to all the angels who came in and out of Room 105, especially Wanna, Liz, Clarissa, Jackie, Tammy, Susan, Mari, Dreama, Stephanie, Sam, Nancy, Patricia, and so many others who made his last months as comfortable and happy as possible.

There are no words to adequately thank the pastoral team at University United Methodist Church, Ben Trammel, Reed McNitsky, and Holly Wilson, who walked with us from the very beginning. If only we had recordings of all those beautiful prayers that were said over us during this journey. Thank you also to our wonderful children, grandchildren, and great grands, who provided us with love and sweet, happy memories during our twenty-seven years together.

A Celebration of Life for Larry will be held at 1:00 PM on Friday, April 1st, at University United Methodist Church, located at 5084 DeZavala, San Antonio, TX 78249, with a reception following. The service will be live-streamed at https://theu.online.church and available for later viewing at www.universitysatx.org. The family welcomes donations in Larry’s memory to Curepsp.org or CurePSP, 1216 Broadway, Second Floor, New York, New York 10001; to University United Methodist Church Student Ministry, to M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, or to a charity of your choice.