Gerald Galvin Larson

Gerald Galvin (Jerry) Larson passed away peacefully on December 22, 2025 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s Disease. Gerald was born in Springfield, Illinois on March 25, 1937, the son of Mildred Galvin and Larry S. Larson. He was one of five children. He is preceded in death by his parents, and his brother, John Larson.

Jerry’s family moved often during his childhood and ultimately settled in Amarillo, Texas where Jerry graduated from Price College High School. He went on to attend St. Edwards University in Austin, Texas where he was a member of the St. Edwards tennis team and majored in English and History, graduating in 1959 with a Bachelor’s Degree.

Jerry met the love of his life Sammye Kay Hubbard in Lubbock, Texas in 1959 on a blind date. They were married in Lubbock on June 4, 1960, where they began their 65 year journey together.

Jerry taught and coached high school for a short time before joining the United States Civil Service as an investigator. He was proud of his service, especially working across the south in support of implementing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and doing background investigations on the early NASA astronauts.

These years sent Jerry and Sammye all over Texas living in Ballinger, Rowena, Tyler, Corpus Christi, San Antonio and Amarillo.

Jerry returned to school in 1968, attending Texas Tech University where he received a Master’s Degree in Accounting.

Jerry had a successful career in business over the next decades spending 13 years at Gulf Oil Corporation. He spent several years as General Services Director for the City of Houston and worked for a smaller independent oil and gas company, an architectural firm, and St. Thomas University in Houston.

While with Gulf, Jerry and Sammye lived in Houston, Texas; San Diego, California; and London, England before settling back in Houston.

Throughout his career and in retirement Jerry was an avid photographer and reader, loved music and movies, travelled all over the United States and Europe, and was a huge fan of the Texas Tech Red Raiders. He was an even bigger fan of his grandchildren, the “Fab Four”, who called him Paw Paw.

Jerry is survived by his wife Sammye and by his sisters Judy West and Mary Jane Latimer and her husband Jim, and his brother Jim Larson and his wife Soraya.

He is also survived by his son Samuel Galvin Larson and daughter-in-law Katharine Westerfield Larson; his daughter Mary Elizabeth Laflin and son-in-law Walter Laflin; his grandchildren, the “Fab Four”, Katharine Elizabeth Larson; Hannah Grace Larson and her wife Annie Olivia Blankenship; Patrick Jacob Laflin; and Colleen Elizabeth Hanks and her husband James Buchanan “Cannon” Hanks III; and his great grandson, James Buchanan “Ford” Hanks IV.

Jerry’s immediate family will gather to celebrate his life on December 27 as he would want us to do.

In lieu of flowers the family would encourage donations to charities supporting Alzheimer’s Disease research and care such as the Alzheimer's Association, Alzheimer's Foundation of America (AFA), and Cure Alzheimer's Fund.