Roll Call Tribute

Larry Lane Minter 

December 19, 1947 - July 12, 2023 

Larry was born on December 19, 1947, in Dallas, Texas, to Erma and Ralph Minter. His older brother, Mike, awaited Larry’s arrival, and younger sister Dianne would arrive a couple years later. Larry’s athleticism was evident as early as elementary school, and by high school, he was on Varsity Football and a ranked pole-vaulter in Dallas ISD. Larry was a good student and particularly loved mathematics and science. Well-liked by both teachers and students, he was voted “Friendliest Senior Boy” as well as elected President of the Senior Class at Kimball High School.

Upon graduation, Larry attended Texas A&M University at College Station and remained a proud Aggie for his entire life. Beginning in Aeronautical Engineering with an eye toward being a pilot, he eventually switched to Geology. It was the Vietnam Era, and at A&M Larry joined the Marines to train as a Marine Pilot. He earned “Expert” marksmanship status over two summers at Marine Boot Camp, but in his Senior year, there were no openings for pilots. Larry resigned from the Marines and applied to an obscure uniformed service, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). By graduation, Larry had been hired by Texaco as an Exploration Geologist in their Houston office. Four months into his new job, NOAA accepted him into the NOAA Corp to begin immediate training at the Coast Guard Academy at Kings Point, Long Island, NY. By that time, Larry had met Kay, but she encouraged him to Go for it! and he left for the Coast Guard, entering as a uniformed Ensign. Not long into training, his Commanding Officer pulled Larry aside and said that due to Larry’s major in Geology, would he consider doing research for a year at South Pole Station, Antarctica? What an opportunity! Again, Kay said, “Go for it!” and off he went to spend a year learning techniques in seismology and geomagnetics for research at the bottom of the earth.

Returning to the USA after a year wintering-over in almost 100-degree below zero conditions, Larry and Kay married in 1973, and for his last Service year he was stationed at The Atlantic Oceanographic and Marine Labs (AOML) in Key Biscayne, Miami, Florida. Concluding his third year of Service, Larry applied and was accepted to Graduate School in Engineering Geology at Texas A&M, graduating with an MS in 1976. In his career thereafter, Larry worked for Gulf Oil & Minerals in Albuquerque, NM, developing uranium resources at the Mt. Taylor Mine in Grants, NM; with Gulf Minerals in Denver CO; and after that, he worked for consulting firms such as Woodward-Clyde, TRC, and UEC (Uranium Energy Corporation) in Texas.

He’s opened several of his own sidelight companies including HydroSurveys (mapping underwater topography in lakes and rivers for fishermen and boaters in Colorado); Reflex Activewear (reflective safety clothing); and his most successful, Canyon Environmental Resources, in which capacity as an environmental scientist he traveled to such locations as Irian Jaya (New Papua, New Guinea) performing assessments of environmental impacts from mining operations. As additional sidelight activities, Larry was a part-time Adjunct Professor of Geology and Mathematics at Austin Community College, a fiction writer of the novels Stones of Fire and Ice Cycles; and always, most important to him, a devoted father to Sarah, Andrew, and later grandfather to Jedidiah, thoroughly enjoying watching them in their activities, family life (especially holidays), and travels with them around the USA and abroad to Europe and beyond.

When Larry was 57 years old, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, and after 15 years dealing with that progressive disease, received an additional diagnosis of Dementia. Larry never asked “Why me?” and he never complained; his quiet courage gave us courage. His belief in God was strong, and he was comfortable “not knowing” all the answers, but “knowing by Faith alone.” He believed that we are eternal Spirits living in a human body for awhile, and that upon death, our Spirit leaves and returns to God and the Universe. About donating his body to science, Larry quipped: “They’re really going to like my body, especially my brain!” Larry passed away in the late evening of July 12, 2023, with Sarah, Andrew, Jedidiah, and Kay by his bedside—sharing with him those Holy Moments.