Larry Lee Steen

During a brief hospital visit and with family members by his side, Larry peacefully joined his Eternal Father in Heaven on Tuesday, December 9th. He was the only child of Orliff and Florence Adams Steen. Born into the family of a mill worker in Ottawa, Kansas, the family moved several times throughout Kansas, Missouri and lastly Nebraska.

He lived a full life and achieved much. After graduating Southwest High School in St. Louis, MO, he earned a chemistry degree from Doane College in Crete, NE. While at Doane he was a member of bands, a fraternity, the tennis team, and met his first wife Elizabeth A. Meacham. Married in 1957, they had three children, Doug, Debbie and Dan. He later received a degree in business from the University of Nebraska in Omaha.

A Boy Scout during his youth, he enjoyed the outdoors, especially the mountains. As a young adult he led a number of Explorer scout expeditions camping and canoeing throughout the northern states and Great Lakes. He shared his passion of camping with his family and transformed a 1956 school bus into a camper and joined camping groups.

In 1986 he married Janet Bond. Their union brought her children Scott and Kristin into the family. They were married for 40 years. After retirements they relocated to Sun City, Georgetown, TX and traveled much of America and Canada. Avid RVers for more than twenty years, they outlasted a couple trailers and trucks by visiting every mainland state and lower Canadian province. They made many long-lasting friendships along their journeys. Their travels allowed them to pursue genealogy, unearthing family roots in Europe to the fifteenth century. Larry and Jan were active in the Sun City community for more than 26 years where Larry enjoyed woodworking and playing tennis. He was also a lifelong member of the Methodist church.

He started his career as a chemist and insurance/securities sales representative. Much of his career was in the insurance industry as financial and systems executives. He ended his career in Manhattan, KS at Kansas Farm Bureau.

Helping others was a passion as he often exhibited to neighbors. During his lifetime he was a Master Mason for more than 60 years, and member of the Ben Hur Masonic Lodge (Omaha, NE), Scottish Rite and Tangier Shrine Temple. He also was a former board member and district governor of Lions International where he was instrumental in establishing the Nebraska Eye Bank..

Larry was preceded in death by his parents and is survived by his wife Jan; children and their spouses: Doug Steen (spouse Paige), Debi Wallingford (spouse Randy), Dan Steen (spouse Dena), Scott Laurinat and Kristin Bigham; grandchildren: Logan, Landon, Tori, Olivia, Quinn, Aubrey, Journee, and Dravyn; great-grandchildren: Theo and Piper; and other loved ones.

Following his wishes, Larry was cremated. The family requests donations be made in his honor to the Shriners Children’s Hospital in Galveston (815 Market St., Galveston, TX, 77550).