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LARRY EUGENE MEATS

March 30, 1941 – October 20, 2018, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, age 77 years, six months, and 20 days, after battling heart and lung problems for several years.  
Larry was born in Independence, KS, to Cecil and Ruby Dyer Meats. When Larry was four, his father took a job with Co-op and moved the family from LeRoy to Concordia. Larry attended Sibley School through sixth grade.  For seventh grade, however, without telling his parents, he walked three miles to enroll in school in town so he could play sports. His freshman and sophomore years in high school he excelled in football as a first-team guard. Then, characteristically independent, without his parents’ permission, Larry left school his senior year to join the Navy. He did well in basic training, was selected for the submarine corps, and served on diesel and nuclear submarines, rising to the rank of Master Chief in a distinguished 20 year career that included being part of a special team that built nuclear submarines. After retiring from the Navy, Larry worked as a mail carrier in Portsmouth, NH, and raised Arabian and Appaloosa horses as a hobby. He also enjoyed staying in touch with shipmates and other veterans as a member of the Portsmouth American Legion and the USS Tautog and Veterans Submarine Club.   
Larry married Verlee Marcott of Aurora, KS (1959), and had two sons, James Lynn Ernest and Jeffrey Eugene. Larry and Verlee also adopted a daughter, Jodi Leigh. After Larry and Verlee divorced, he married a second time to Kathleen Starkey of Portsmouth, NH (1974), and had two daughters, Kathleena and Lauren. Larry was preceded in death by his parents and wife Kathleen. He is survived by brothers Stephen (Ann), David (Jane), and Carl (Loretta); sister Carol Thompson (Bob); sons Jim (Rachelle) and Jeff (Vicki); daughters Jodi Pearson (Darin), Kathleena, and Lauren Hilgendorf (Ryan); grandchildren Rebecca, Jeff, Ben, Landin, Lathan, Leann, Hunter, Nick, and Brecken, and four great-grandchildren.
Larry’s involvement in two incidents deserves special mention.  He was on the nuclear submarine USS Tautog patrolling submerged in the North Pacific Ocean off the coast of Russia when his ship collided with a Russian sub.  This notorious incident is detailed in the book “Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage.”
The second involves a persistent mystery in Concordia lore:  Who put the goat on top of the Co-op grain elevator on Halloween some 60 years ago?  Larry’s father Cecil answers this question (“The Meats Family in America,” p. 154, copy in the Frank Carlson Public Library):  “My son Larry was responsible…. He tied the goat’s legs together and put it on his shoulders and climbed up the [exterior] ladder 156 ft. to the top.”
Details for interment and a private ceremony to be held at a later date are still pending. In lieu of flowers, donations to Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, would be appreciated:  https://give.brighamandwomens.org/all-give/.

Concordia Blade-Empire

510 Washington St.
Concordia, KS 66901