Larry was born at Miss Freise’s Maternity Home in Bakersfield. He graduated from Bakersfield High School, class of 1965.
He joined the US Navy Reserves following graduation and served at Nha Trang, Vietnam in the Inshore Undersea Warfare Group One. Larry’s unit patrolled the harbor, built storage buildings and unloaded supplies. He volunteered to help the Navy chaplain hold services for the troops. Larry’s rank was Seaman E3 and he went through boot camp in San Diego and survival training at Whidbey Island, WA.
Larry lived in Las Vegas for 48 years where he began his career working for his late aunt and uncle, artist Bertie Kliewer Ewing and entrepreneur and inventor J. A. “Slim” Ewing, making fine plastic dice and running a locksmith shop. He most recently worked for his close friend, the late Larry Block, at “B” Manufacturing where he was plant manager and foreman. They designed, built prototypes and manufactured nearly anything anyone wanted from metals, including items for the gambling industry.
In Las Vegas, Larry attended First Grace Baptist Church. Later, he was a Deacon at the First Baptist Church., a youth program leader, and served in the prison ministry. After First Baptist, he attended Canyon Ridge Christian Church.
Larry married Karen Kay Brown in 1970 and adopted two children, Shawn and Sharon. He next married Eva Maria Maturino in 1977 and adopted her son, Christopher, and added two more sons, Jonathan and Joshua, to the family. Both marriages were in Las Vegas and both ended in divorce.
Larry’s roots were deep in Bakersfield. His great-grandparents, Matilda Parkinson Farris and Hamilton Farris, settled in Bakersfield in 1885. Hamilton served as City Marshall of Kern City, as deputy Kern County Clerk, as the health officer of Bakersfield and as the superintendent of Union Cemetery
Another set of great-grandparents, Ida Ella Smith Deuel and John Caldwell Deuel, arrived in Bakersfield around 1895 and started a butcher shop.
His grandparents, Marie F. Duerksen Kliewer and Jacob W. Kliewer, and their three children, Esther, Samuel, and Bertha Kliewer, homesteaded in Elk Hills 105 years ago.
Larry is survived by his brother Donald (Pat) of Bend, OR; sons Jonathan C. Kliewer (Leah) of Sarasota, FL, Christopher D. Kliewer (Cindy) of Las Vegas, NV and Shawn Kliewer of NY; a granddaughter who he helped to raise, Cecilia Kliewer-Brooks (Kevin); 8 other grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; and former wives, Karen K Finley of Camp Verde, AZ and Eva M. Kliewer of Santa Maria, CA..
He was preceded in death by his first cousin and long-term housemate in Las Vegas, Kenneth Kay Williams, who died this July; a son, Joshua M. Kliewer of Las Vegas; a daughter, Sharon Kliewer Silette of Idaho; his parents, Edna L. (Deuel) Kliewer and Samuel J. Kliewer; and his grandparents Olga (Farris) and Oliver Deuel and Jacob W. and Marie F. Kliewer.
Graveside services will be held at Hillcrest Memorial Park in Bakersfield, CA on November 9 at 3:00 pm.
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