Lawrence Evan Welch

Like his favorite color, ORANGE, Larry was warm, sunny, and just a bit loud. He couldn’t help but draw attention in a crowd, and if there was no crowd in sight, he’d gather one together and boost everyone’s spirits with his enormous smile and contagious laugh.

His love of baseball, UCSB, fishing, golfing (with putters, of course), woodworking, camping and singing brought him great joy, which he shared unselfishly with his friends and family.

Flaunting his “orange” haired personality from the start, Larry was born at home in New York City as he was in a hurry and didn’t want to wait for the hospital,. He became a true outdoor loving Californian a couple of years later when his family moved to Long Beach. There Larry was introduced to one of his life’s passions, baseball, which he started at age 8 with the Lakewood Little League.

He studied History at UC Santa Barbara where he spent 4 fun-filled years and was a walk on catcher for the Gaucho Baseball Team. Many a life-long friendship was born from that team. Larry loved being a Gaucho and was a dedicated alum to the baseball program, so much so that he even had a former student, Manny, permanently ink a logo on his shoulder.

Larry earned his Masters at Cal State Los Angeles and started teaching History at Arroyo High School soon after.

In 1990 he met Dawn, the love of his life, on a blind date set up by his good friend, Rob. A round of miniature golf and a phone call back 3 weeks later led to 27 years of marriage and two amazing daughters, Erin and Haley.

Dawn and Larry moved to San Diego and put down deep roots. Larry became an avid Padres fan and spent 20 years teaching at Rincon Middle School and most recently Conway Elementary. Larry was beloved by his students, many of whom still reach out to him with updates on their achievements. He taught thru stories and encouraged each student to be a lifelong learner, give back to their communities and just be good people. Larry enjoyed mentoring student teachers, sharing techniques to adapt to different learning styles. He was also known for his love of pranks on his fellow teachers and administrators and he may or may not have covered an entire office with aluminum foil.

Larry’s love of history and travel took him not just to nearby campgrounds but also far flung locales in Mexico, Europe and Mongolia. His favorite European stop was Scotland, perhaps due to the large percentage of orange haired citizens. Or it might have been the scotch distilleries. It is hard to be certain.

What is certain? Larry was a dedicated husband to Dawn and reveled in his role as Dad to Erin and Haley. He supported, encouraged and participated in all of their activities, Indian Princess camps, soccer games, karate competitions, theatre, cheerleading and choir. You could always find him in his bright orange hat, shirt, or shorts cheering them on and showing his love.

He recently became a grandfather to Tanzen and Alexandria, and embraced this new role with his boundless enthusiasm. He was there not only for hugs and snuggles, but also to build sandboxes, kitchens and princess playhouses.

Larry is survived by his wife Dawn, daughters Erin Thompson and Haley Welch, as well as his parents Peter Welch and Mary Townsend and stepdad Mike Townsend. Siblings Kathy Klein, Joe Welch, Matt Welch, Julie Welch, Beth Alessi and Gillian Wadsworth along with numerous nieces and nephews mourn his loss. Grand-daughters Tanzen and Alex Thompson will also miss their Grandpa Larry.

While we will all miss Larry and his very bright light, he would not want us to grieve for long, but to reach out and spread love, kindness and perhaps a prank or two on his behalf.