Larry Earl Siders

As a young man, Larry earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, and later joined his father, Slim, in the family vacuum cleaner sales and service business which he owned and operated until his retirement.

Larry was also a life-long basketball and baseball enthusiast, both as a player and a spectator. He never tired of sharing stories about the game, whether from his boyhood when he and Slim saw the great Satchel Paige pitch to more recently catching a Dragons game in which Joey Votto played. In his later years, Larry continued to enjoy trips to the ballpark to see the Dragons and the Reds.

A lover of good Scotch and good food, movies and music, Larry also read every genre of book he could get his hands on. His intellectual curiosity spanned everything from cars to popular culture to world history and current affairs. Larry enjoyed all things traditional country music – Williams, Cash, Jones and Haggard – as well as old school rock and roll and jazz. His children may “fondly” remember being awakened on school days by Larry singing the Chuck Berry lyric, “up in the morning and off to school.” He particularly loved Ray Charles as well the country outlaws Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. Those who lived in the Siders home during the 1960s, 70s and 80s were never without music, sports, television police shows, or reading material. Those influences and interests have carried on, in the decades since, in the lives of Larry’s three children.

Perhaps Larry’s greatest passion was his love of fishing. He took great joy in being out on the water in his one-man bass boat and joining his pals for fishing trips to the wilds of Manitoba and Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee. This spring he was scoping out local places where he could fish from the shore since handling his bass boat had become difficult for him.

Never one to be shy about sharing his opinions, Larry often came across as a tough guy and a contrarian. But those who knew him well knew he cared deeply about his family and friends. He maintained lifelong connections, and remained close to his sisters and several high school friends until the end of his life.

Larry is survived by his sisters, Judith (Tom) Morgan of Jacksonville, Florida, and Linda (Orville) Warren of Tacoma, Washington, and his former wife of 37 years, Connie Seifert Siders of Kettering, Ohio. He is survived by his three children, Kimberly Siders Carter (Tim), David Siders (Jane) and Cynthia Siders Young (Andy), and grandchildren Shannon Siders Sheehy, Tyler Siders, Michael Kelley and Liz Leonard, along with six great-grandchildren (with one more on the way). Larry was also quite fond of his sisters’ children, Joshua Morgan, Melissa Morgan, Jeffrey Warren, and Greg Warren, all of whom survive him.

Thank you, Larry, for being part of our lives, through all the joys, hardships, disappointments and successes. You are missed.