Larry William Stewart

Larry William Stewart, age 73, of Yuma, Arizona passed away on Friday, April 29, 2022 due to injuries from a motorcycle accident. Larry was born August 12, 1948 to William and Jo Ellen Stewart in Florence Arizona. He is survived by his loving wife Betty Stewart; cherished daughters, Lori Stewart and Missy Fike "Stewart" (Mark) ; Mother Jo Ellen Stewart; adored granddaughters Kayleena and Kristy Fike; brothers Roy Stewart (Deborah) and Jerry Stewart (Carolyn) and many nieces and nephews; Brother-in-laws Larry and Paul Taylor; sister-in-law Denice James.

Services will be held on May 13th, 2022 at Johnson Mortuary & Desert Lawn Memorial Park 1415 South 1st Ave, Yuma AZ. 85364 at 9:45 am. Family private viewing will be held from 9:00 am - 9:45 am

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.johnsonmortuaryyuma.com for the Stewart family.

His Story:

Larry was born August 12, 1948 in Florence Arizona. He was raised in Phoenix Arizona. He married his high school sweetheart Betty Taylor on April 29, 1967. They were best friends and did everything together for 55 years until his passing on April 29, 2022. He joined the US Army on May 9th,1968. He served for 22 years retiring as a 1st Sgt. While serving he earned numerous awards for his hard work and dedication. He was stationed in various places during his career. He was stationed in Georgia, Germany, Alaska and Arizona. He served and was in the Vietnam War from 1968 - 1969 where he served as a door gunner on helicopters and a Crew Chief for the General's helicopter maintaining the safety of the helicopter. He served two tours in Germany, one tour in Georgia, Alaska and two in Arizona before retiring in Yuma.

After retiring from the United States Army he continued working for the Army as a contractor. He worked as an Engineer Tech/Aircraft Maintenance Manager at YPG Laguna Army Airfield which included:

* Aircraft Maintenance Chief for rotary and fixed wing aircraft assigned to Laguna Army Airfield.

Technical Engineer for the design, production and installation of test platforms into manned and unmanned aircraft.

* Worked with many aviation companies to include NASA, Boeing Aircraft and Raytheon Technologies as well as flight test units from other Department of Defense services.

* Managed all buildings, vehicles and equipment assigned to the aircraft maintenance company.

* Presented the Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award for over 50 years of civil and military aircraft maintenance experience.

He loved hunting, fishing, camping, archery, flying helicopters and his motorcycle. He was a kind person. He loved his family deeply. He was great with his co-workers and everyone he met. He loved life. He was always there when someone needed a hand. He had a great sense of humor. He had a goal of retiring in August and traveling with his wife. He was known by his daughters as the "Hero" that could fix anything, except barbie dolls. He did, however, do "surgery" on their dolls and stuffed animals. In Alaska he raced stock cars and loved to go on glider planes. He had a very adventurist side but never understood skydiving and why people would want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. He was a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a popo, a friend and so very loved by many. He will be greatly missed and was a true blessing to his family and friends.