Our dearest Lawrence Allen Leavell passed away peacefully after a long illness on Saturday, August 29, 2026, at the age of 73. He was born April 17, 1953, in Marion County, Indiana, the third of seven children born to Wilbur Cecil “Bud” Leavell and Ruth Ann Cain. To everyone who loved him, he was simply “Larry.”
Larry was generous to a fault and incapable of insincerity. He was practical, curious, independent, and uncommonly willing to help.
Larry grew up in Johnson County on his family’s small truck farm south of Acton, alongside his siblings, getting into adventures, working on local farms, and biking the paper route through all seasons. His enthusiasm for bicycling sometimes took him considerably farther. As a young man, he once rode from Indiana to South Florida and back. Those early years of working, building, fixing, exploring, and voracious reading gave him an extraordinary range of practical, historical, and scientific knowledge. It seemed like there was very little Larry couldn't do.
Larry served in the U.S. Army as a Medic during the Vietnam War. His service included supporting intercontinental medical evacuations between Vietnam and the United States aboard a surgical-suite aircraft, helping bring wounded soldiers home. He also served as a liaison to a Lao Army unit, part of the U.S. involvement in Laos that was covert at the time and has since been declassified. There, he worked with Boualay Saysana. After the war, Larry was instrumental in bringing Boualay and his family to the United States in 1976 from a refugee camp in Thailand, an accomplishment he considered one of the most meaningful of his life.
While stationed at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Larry met his first wife, Michaele Jo “Mykie” Kocher. He completed his military service in 1975 at the rank of corporal.
Using the G.I. Bill, Larry studied programming and computer science. Computing became his life’s work. A specialist in Business BASIC, he spent much of the 1990s and early 2000s contracting across Southern California and developed a reputation as an exceptionally skilled BBX, C, and C++ programmer. He considered his work with Carlton Forge Works a high point of his career.
Larry was the father of four children, Loverly Larina, Tara, Justine, and Lawson. He delighted in sharing with them his curiosity about the world and his love of learning, reading, science, history, travel, new cultures, singing, hiking, cooking, baking, theme parks, and spontaneous adventures. He particularly admired Walt Disney’s contributions to multicultural understanding, celebration of American history, and commitment to kindness and animal welfare.
Generosity defined Larry's life. For decades, he gave blood every month to strangers he would never meet and who would never know his name. He fixed friends’ and neighbors’ computers, gave away his tools, carried family through difficult seasons, helped friends get back on their feet, and stopped for people stranded along the road. His charm, kindness, humor, and willingness to help earned him lasting affection from friends and family at home and around the world.
In his later years, Larry undertook an ambitious scholarly project, spending approximately 15 years gathering testimony, research, and data concerning a folklore phenomenon. Dr. Roy Wagner, professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Virginia, was involved from the book's inception and wrote its foreword. Larry's late sister, Suzy, edited the manuscript during the final months of her life. The Nermanuh People remains in print, and his son, Lawson, keeps a signed copy.
Larry is survived by his four children: Loverly Larina (Enrique) Montejano, of San Antonio, Texas, daughter of Larry and his first wife, Michaele Jo “Mykie” Kocher; Tara (Mark) Illgner, of Charlottesville, Virginia, daughter of Larry and Harprit Kaur Sidhu; and Justine, of Lake Forest, California, and Lawson (Tia), of Columbia, Missouri, his children with his wife, Helen Luzanga Leavell. He is also survived by eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
Larry is also survived by five siblings: Marcia (Franklin) Laning, of North Port, Florida; Shirley (Gregory) McPherson, of Columbus, Ohio; Steven (Irene) Leavell, of Hope Mills, North Carolina; Elisa (Charles) McPherson, of Warsaw, Indiana; and George (Penny) Leavell, of Merced, California.
He was preceded in death by his parents; his sister, Mary Sue “Suzy” Peters; and his first wife, Michaela Jo “Mykie” Kocher.
Larry would say that the best way to honor and celebrate him is by helping others through blood donations or supporting those in need.
