Lawrence Sanford

Lawrence “Larry” Sanford passed away the 7th of January 2015 at 90 years old in Houston, Texas, his home for the past 60 years. Larry, the youngest of six children, was born in Newport News, Virginia the 19th of December 1924 to his parents, Frederick William and Mary Byrd Sanford. Following his graduation from Newport News High School in 1942, he matriculated at Clemson University on a football scholarship, where he studied for a short time before joining the United States Navy..as he always said, “the tugboat Navy won the war.” Larry was discharged from the Navy in 1946, attended North Carolina State University, where he was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, and graduated with a mechanical engineering degree in 1950.

Following his graduation, Larry married Elsie Love Bentley of Hampton, Virginia, to whom he was married for 20 years. They moved to the Gulf Coast where he worked in the oil patch as a roughneck, and they raised their children, Elizabeth Hope and Lawrence Bentley. He moved on to work as an engineer for service tool companies, designing equipment for downhole drilling, and eventually began his own company, A-Z International Tool Company in Houston. Larry was ambitious, traveling extensively to sell oil tools worldwide. In 1972, he purchased TAM Products Inc. and the following year changed the name to TAM International Inc. to capture his vision of an international presence. A long time member of NOMADS, he was known as an innovator, designing tools that helped customers solve their problems.

In 1974, Larry married Barbara Lunday Harlson, adding her children, Leigh Ann, Kristie, and Michael to his life. The combined family of five children, and later, 11 grandchildren, was a great source of joy for Larry.

Larry was a bigger than life personality with a curiosity about how the world worked. He was constantly finding a new project or hobby, and he always had a question, one that usually made you think a little harder. At 65 years old, Larry obtained his pilots license, a passion that he pursued for 20 years, crisscrossing the continent in his plane. When he wasn’t at his drafting table or tinkering in the manufacturing facility, Larry loved traveling, cooking, flying his plane, and spending time with his family, which could mean anything from hanging out in the hill country, to constructing a toy train set for his grandkids.

Larry is survived by his wife of 40 years, Barbara Sanford; his five children, Hope Sanford, Bentley Sanford and wife, Kyttie, Leigh Ann Harlson DeLuna and husband, Ruben, Kristie Harlson, and Michael Harlson; and his 11 grandchildren, Margaret Sheets and husband, Nate Robinson, Rosemary Sheets, John Sanford, Kate Sanford, Rob Sanford, Lindsey Parker, Garrett Parker, Markham Stayton, Julie Stayton, Samantha Stayton, and Blake Harlson.

The memorial service is to be conducted at two o’clock in the afternoon on Friday, the 16th of January, in the Jasek Chapel at Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston. Friends are cordially invited to gather with the family and share memories of Larry during a reception that will follow immediately after the service in the Grand Foyer of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons. In lieu of the customary remembrances, memorial contributions in Larry’s memory may be made to The Amazing Place, 3735 Drexel, Houston, Texas 77027, or The Alzheimer’s Association, P.O. Box 96011, Washington, DC, 20090-6011.

The Lawrence Sanford family wishes to sincerely thank and recognize those who cared for Mr. Sanford by showing their love and support. His caregivers are Vandetta Levingston, Dorothy Long, Elena “Niecy” Murphy, Michael Brooks and Maurice Bassett.