Larry Lynn Kinney, 77, of Houston, Texas passed away on May 4, 2020 surrounded by loving family. He was born on October 8, 1942 in Marysville, Kansas to parents Fay Francis Kinney and Edna Eileen (Weaver) Kinney.
While Larry was born in Kansas, he was Texas raised, with exception to the many summers he and his sister, Kay, spent on the Weaver farm with their rowdy cousins where they worked and played throughout the summers of their youth. Working the farm, driving his grandfather’s tractor, and repairing barbed wire fences instilled an interest in repair and mechanics.
As a young teen, Larry was also keenly interested in aviation and aerospace and would usually spend earnings from his paper route on model airplane kits, which he loved. Larry graduated from Sunset High School in Dallas, Texas, Class of 1960.
In the fall of 1960, Larry enrolled at the University of Texas in Austin, where he studied mathematics, engineering and physics. Larry loved his time in Austin. Hook ‘em Horns. Upon graduating from college, he began his career in the aerospace industry with Chance Vought in Dallas, bringing his childhood passion into his professional life.
And it was in Dallas as a young man that Larry met Linda Barker. Larry and Linda married in 1968 and moved to Houston in 1970, where he joined the NASA community. Larry and Linda have two children together, Cooper (1974) and Taylor (1978), whom they raised in Clear Lake. They were active members of Clear Lake Presbyterian Church.
Taking classes in the evening, Larry earned his Juris Doctorate from South Texas College of Law, and practiced oil and gas and aerospace law until the mid 1990s. He later worked as an independent technology consultant within the hydrocarbons industry, retiring in 2017.
Throughout his life, Larry invested his time and interests into his family, particularly his two boys. He enjoyed family road trips in the RV, summers in Colorado, family reunions, National Parks, and anywhere with a coastline. Larry was his boys biggest fan, rooting them on academically and in their athletic endeavors…basketball, baseball and soccer to name a few. Larry and his sons went on countless hunting and fishing trips, and he enjoyed sharing what he knew about the outdoors.
A child at heart, Larry had a generous spirit and never met a stranger. He was a devoted and doting father, brother, uncle, and grandfather.
Larry is preceded in death by his parents Fay and Eileen Kinney, and his grandparents, Ross L. Kinney and Roxie Viola (Phillips) Kinney of Oketo, Kansas and Marysville, Kansas, and Roland Stanley Weaver and Clara Mary Amelia (Scholz) Weaver of Beattie, Kansas.
He is survived by his two sons, Taylor Kinney, and Cooper Kinney and his wife Shannon; Linda Barker Kinney; grandchildren Collins Kinney and Hudson Kinney; sister Kay Crain and her husband Jim Crain; nephews Ted Long, Toby Long, and Mark Crain; niece Tera Lynn Barnes; and sisters-in-law Diane Barker and Sharon Long.
A Celebration of Life is to be scheduled at a later date.
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