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Larry Molinosky

February 26, 1935 - January 16, 2023
Grand Rapids, MI

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Visitation

Saturday, January 21, 2023
10:00 AM EST
Oakhill Church
1930 Leonard Street NE
Grand Rapids, MI 49505
Web Site

Service

Saturday, January 21, 2023
11:00 AM EST
Oakhill Church
1930 Leonard Street NE
Grand Rapids, MI 49505
Web Site

Contributions


At the family's request memorial contributions are to be made to those listed below. Please forward payment directly to the memorial of your choice.

Oakhill Church
1930 Leonard Street NE
Grand Rapids, MI 49505
Web Site

Flowers


Below is the contact information for a florist recommended by the funeral home.

Ball Park Floral
8 Valley Ave.
Grand Rapids, MI 49504
(616) 459-3409
Driving Directions
Web Site

Life Story / Obituary


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Larry Molinosky, beloved husband, father, and grandfather, went to meet his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on January 16, 2023. Larry was born to Richard (“Dick”) and Pauline Molinosky on February 26, 1935, at their rented house on Leffingwell Avenue in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His father Dick was a road builder and heavy-equipment operator, and the family moved frequently, following Dick’s work projects.

World War II found them in Sault St. Marie, with Dick working on an expansion of the Soo Locks. The city was heavily militarized to protect the Locks from Axis sabotage, with soldiers and machine gun nests everywhere. Young Larry thought it was a swell place for a boy to have adventures and dreamed of joining the soldiers to fight the enemy. Before the war was over, Larry’s father would be drafted into the Seabees to build airstrips out of crushed coral on South Pacific islands; his mother would start her long career on the floor of a General Motors factory, becoming a “Rosie the Riveter;” and his uncle Russell would be killed in the Battle of the Hedgerows in France.

As a young man, Larry’s interests were engines, motorcycles, guns and blues music. In 1953, Larry graduated from Central High School and enrolled in the United States Marine Corps. His basic training was at Camp Pendleton in San Diego. En route to Korea, his unit practiced an amphibious landing at Adak in the Aleutian Islands. The landing was the easy part; surviving on frigid Adak for two weeks with inadequate gear was the hard part. By the time Larry got to Korea, the fighting had ended, and his unit was posted along the armistice line. When his tour of duty ended, Larry was ready to be done being a soldier. He purged all of his Marine Corps gear, not wanting to keep any souvenirs; somehow a USMC spoon survived and became a staple in the Molinosky kitchen. Larry didn’t like the crude talk that many of his soldier comrades engaged in, and for the rest of his life he did not swear, tell or laugh at a bawdy joke.

Back in the States, he attended a technical school in Indiana and got an engineering certificate. He worked for R.C. Allen, the business machine manufacturer which had expanded into aircraft instruments during WW2. His work as an engineer eventually led him to the aerospace industry, where he spent most of his career as a reliability engineer for McDonnell Douglas, Vickers, and Eaton, devising tests to ensure that key components of aeronautical hardware met specified tolerances.

At a New Year’s Eve party thrown by his Aunt Lois Heckman, Larry met a beautiful, effervescent, and kind young woman named Carolyn Miller. They were wed on October 3, 1959 and were inseparable for the next 63 years. Larry and Carolyn raised their four daughters (Debra, Jayna, Dixie and Ruth Ann) at their home at 3451 Ancliff in Blythefield Acres.

Larry was a man’s man, through and through, but he could not say no to his Carolyn, and so the 1970s found the two of them meditating, disco dancing, pursuing progressive Christianity, and selling vitamin supplements on the side. Left to his own devices, his interests included sailing, motorcycles, and target practice at the gun range.

Larry was devoted to his family and enjoyed nothing more than spending time with family. He was always available to help solve a problem or respond to an emergency, and experience shows that there was NOTHING he would not do to help his family. He was handy and could build or fix most anything. He was selfless and would give the shirt off his back to anyone who needed it. He gave the impression of being a quiet man, and yet he always contributed something selective to the conversation. He had a dry sense of humor.

At his granddaughter’s birthday party in November 2022, someone asked him how long he and Carolyn had been married. He thought for a moment, then answered, “Forever.” He had a strong independent streak and his favorite figures from history were those who made their own paths and did what others told them couldn’t be done. He was a man of quiet Christian faith. He was self-controlled and self-disciplined and almost never uttered an unkind word about any person he knew. (Washington politicians were another story.) He was gracious, kind and forgiving, and he extended unlimited “second chances” to those who needed them.

Larry tended to keep his emotions and pain to himself, citing John Wayne’s example. His family enjoyed, and will greatly miss, his expertly cooked Thanksgiving turkeys. He had a special father-son relationship with his grandson James, who lived with his grandparents during several years of his childhood. In short, HE WAS STRONG AND GOOD.

Larry was preceded in death by his parents; his uncle Russell Molinosky; his aunts Eleanor Shimmel, Millie Diamond, Marilyn Talcott (living), Esther Evans, Marguerite Rice, Doris Frisinger, Alice Lusk; and his kid brother Jack (with whom he was extremely close). Larry is survived by the love of his life, his wife of 63 years, Carolyn; his daughters, Debra (Eric) Darling; Jayna Knowlton (fiancé Ted Spruit); Dixie (Mark) Brieden; and Ruth (David) Skidmore; his grandchildren, Allen MacIver; Larry MacIver; James (Kate) Ford; Camden (Selina) Brieden; Kylee (Kris) Kessler; Sam Brieden; Max (Rylee) Brieden; David Skidmore; and Anna Skidmore; and his great-grandchildren Hannah MacIver, Mason and Annie Ford, Simon and Logan Brieden, and Owyn Kessler. A funeral service will be held Saturday, January 21, 2023 at 11 AM at Oakhill Church, 1930 Leonard St NE where friends may visit with family beginning at 10 AM. Interment will be in Plainfield Twp Cemetery.

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