Lawrence Lee Workman

Lawrence was born November 24, 1951, he was a son of the late Raymond and Alice (Sprinkle) Workman. He had six brothers and sisters: Barbara (Ron) Kraner of Staunton, Bruce and Jackie (McLaughlin) Workman of New Berlin, Halbert and Barb (Hinds) Workman of Chatham, Mark and Beth (West) Workman of Chatham, Kent Workman of Springfield and Glenn Allen Workman of Chatham.

Lawrence leaves behind his wife, Catherine (Caufield) Workman; six children, Brock Workman of Chatham, Charish Gibson (Jason Simpson) of Chatham, Jassen Workman of Chatham, Derrick Workman of Chatham, Luccus and Brandy (Andrews) Workman of Wilmington, NC and Charity Workman (Rob Matthiesen) of Chatham. Lawrence also leaves behind his eight beloved grandchildren, one great-grandchild, and many other family members and friends throughout the Chatham and New Berlin areas.

Lawrence was preceded in death by his parents; and two brothers; Mark and Glenn Allen Workman.

The family is being served by Butler Funeral Home-Chatham, 8855 State Route 4, Chatham, IL 62629.

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A message from his family –

Lawrence, Larry, Dad, Pappy….

The family you and Catherine built was as large as the family you had come from…pretty sure that was Catherine’s idea but what’s the phrase… if you can’t beat ‘em…have plenty of ‘em…or something like that 🙂

Your lessons were not written in a book but built in the way you lived…blue collar and by example. You taught us to build houses, work on cars, fix fences, and yes…what drinks were best to sample.

You loved quietly but fully. A marriage of 51 years and 6 kids is evidence surely.

You were the first to answer your phone, the first to pick someone up from a bar in the middle of the night, to tell us of accidents in the road or floods about to block our way home, the first to pull us out of a ditch and yes… the first to call us the dumb son of bitches we were in some sticky situations.

You would sneak to our houses late at night…lurking in the dark, toothless and wide-eyed, knocking on random windows just to scare the shit out of us and laugh. You would happily tell the story the next day...our fear now gone but embarrassment only by half.

You were the best damn detective any family compound could have…you could tell who left, what time, who got home early, what couple was fighting, what farmer lost their crops in a storm, and who drove by with something new in the back of their truck AND you could usually even guess what it was with any luck.

You loved your cows… there was blackie, old black, big black, white face blackie…who knows how you really kept them straight but nonetheless you knew each one of them and adored them no matter their fate.

You had coffee and cookies for breakfast, enjoyed listening to your reel to reels and talking about Germany, gizzards from County Market, riding around the country block or eating the last ice cream bar…it really was the small things you enjoyed BUT let’s not forget what you REALLY enjoyed…that was WINNING. A game of bags in the front yard - unbeatable - a card game at the kitchen table - master at counting cards…. not even a 9-year-old was allowed to beat YOU in chess 🙂

In retirement you were keen on conserving energy for more important things like napping and spying on the neighborhood houses. Your recliner in front of the bay window was your true love in which you could rest but still see what everyone was up to.

In death…we can smile knowing that there are many we have already lost waiting to greet you and lead you into whatever comes after us. We can only pray that you return to your former health and vitality…heck...maybe even wearing some plaid bell-bottom pants and that mustache of yours freshly trimmed… enjoying some good music and watching over us until we meet again.

We love you.