Larry's Bio
LARRY JOE LANNINGHAM 1952-2012
Larry Lanningham was born in Covington, Kentucky on July 30, 1952. He was the child of Lucille and Jack Lanningham and lived at Ida Spence homes for the first 8 years of his life. His sister Karen was born in 1956 and they and their families made lifelong friends with all the neighbors in Ida Spence. Jack and Lucille bought a house at 2526 Warren St in Covington and Larry attended 7th District and Holmes High Schools where he graduated in 1970. Larry played varsity football at Holmes and was lovingly called “BEAR” by his friends. He later got a “bear” tattoo on his shoulder in tribute.
Larry married his high school sweetheart Beverly Bell and had a beautiful daughter – Audrey Renee on September 16, 1975. That marriage ended and Bev moved away. Larry and Audrey stayed in the Covington Area and Larry started working nights as a Welder for Bishopric which later became Enerfab in January 1975. Larry remained with the company for 38 years where he made many friends and was proud to be a member of the United Boilermaker’s Union. Around the shop, he was known as “Big L”.
Larry loved fishing and on weekends, he and Audrey along with his buddies, Harold and Larry Huser and others would go to the Ohio River to fish for catfish. When Audrey was 4, she caught a 9 lb buffalo fish, a highlight of their early years together. Larry and Audrey were inseparable in those years, when he wasn’t working, he and Audrey spent all their time together. Larry played semi-pro football for Good Timers in Latonia and Audrey attended all his games. Larry was quite the artist and his landscape paintings are treasured by family and friends who were lucky to be given one.
Larry and sister Karen w/ husband Lee, stayed close through the years and Karen’s children, Allison, Ashley, and Andy were very close to their Uncle. Andy and Uncle Larry fished the Ohio all through Andy’s early years and brought home big catfish which was a big thrill. Larry was close to his Mom and Dad and regularly helped Dad around his house. At Christmas, the family would gather to decorate Mom and Dad’s house with lights and figurines that was noticed all around the neighborhood.
As Larry got older, life went on. Dad passed away suddenly in 1998. Larry was introduced to Karen’s good friend from Camp Turnabout, Sisie Morris. Sisie and Larry hit it off almost immediately and were married on April 10, 2002. Sisie and Larry lived in Madiera and established a loving home with their pets. Larry became close with Sisie’s son Mike and his family in Lexington and Sisie’s daughter Cathy and family from Evansville.
In the meantime, Audrey met Roger Paul and they were married in Siesta Key, FL in May 2006 and decided shortly afterward to move permanently to Florida. Larry and Sisie traveled to Florida to visit where they enjoyed going to Disney World with Audrey and Roger. His favorite Disney Park was Magic Kingdom where he loved riding The Pirates of the Caribbean.
Larry and Sisie enjoyed boating and camping at Camp Turnabout each summer and usually in the fall would take a cruise vacation with family and friends. Larry loved wearing his tuxedo and he and Sisie were a very handsome couple when they dressed up for formal evenings. He loved traveling with Sisie and they had a lot of happy times and memories.
After returning from a cruise in October 2011, Larry discovered that he had neuroendocrine cancer in his abdomen. He underwent chemotherapy treatments that were unsuccessful in slowing the cancer growth. He fought as hard as he could to keep going but passed away with his loving family by his bedside on Sunday April 15th. We all will truly miss his wit, his friendliness, his hardworking nature and his love of life. We will miss him.