We are deeply saddened by the news of the death one our Charter Members, Larry Gearhart. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

Larry Gearhart

Larry John Gearhart, beloved husband, dad, grandpa, and friend, died peacefully in the early morning of Sept. 19, 2025.

He was born on April 16, 1942, in Ames, Iowa, to Wilma Lenore Deaton Gearhart and Russell Alfred Gearhart. The youngest of three sons, Larry grew up alongside his brothers Robert Russell Gearhart and Donald Gene Gearhart.

At 20 months old, Larry moved with his family from Iowa to California, where they resided at the Candlestick Cove Naval Housing Project in San Francisco, before settling in Visitacion Valley in 1950. He graduated from Westmore Adult Education High School in Daly City, California.

At age 18, Larry enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, serving with honor in Turkey and Germany until 1964. He then returned to San Francisco and worked in a variety of jobs, including as a stripper in a paper carton factory, a phone installer for Bell Telephone Co., and a cab driver for Yellow Cab of San Francisco.

On March 25, 1967, Larry married the love of his life, Nancy Ruth Kness. Together they raised a family filled with love, joy and adventure. He was a devoted father to stepsons Randolph Wayne Gearhart and Daniel Loren Gearhart and son Russell Karl Gearhart. Their family grew to include seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

In 1968, Larry and Nancy moved to Eureka, California, where he pursued higher education at Humboldt State College. He graduated in 1971 with a bachelor of science degree in natural resources management, and his career in public service began shortly after. Over the years, he dedicated himself to conserving and protecting the nation’s lands and natural resources.

Larry worked with the U.S. Forest Service on both the San Bernardino and Stanislaus National Forests as a survey and engineering technician. His path then took him to Hanksville, Utah, and later American Falls, Idaho, where he served as a soil conservationist with the Bureau of Land Management and the Soil Conservation Service.

Returning to Hanksville in 1978, he became a natural resource specialist with the Bureau of Land Management, before eventually settling in Santa Clara, Utah, in 1987, where he served as an outdoor recreation planner for the Arizona Strip District of the bureau until retirement in January 2006. There, he took on projects such as renovating the Mount Trumbull Schoolhouse, building the rock base for a land bureau sign along the I-15 freeway, and maintaining the Virgin River Canyon campground and multiple trails through mountains and desert. He was also part of many wildland firefighting teams throughout the western United States.

In retirement, he was a volunteer trail steward in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, chatting with and helping visitors along the paths. He also gave his time volunteering at Dixie Care and Share, making hot meals for those who needed them.

All his life, Larry found joy and fulfillment in the great outdoors. He loved hiking through deserts and forests, camping under the stars, and spending time by the ocean. He delighted in gardening, beekeeping, birdwatching, and angling with worms for fish. He savored fresh air, flowers in bloom, and wide-open skies, and could recall the scientific name for scores of western plants. A tinkerer at heart, he enjoyed welding, blacksmithing, and woodworking, crafting projects from scrap metal and turning wood bowls on a lathe. He was a voracious reader of books, magazines, and newspapers, and he thoroughly enjoyed finding a good yard sale. But most of all, Larry treasured time with his wife, children and grandchildren.

For more than a decade, Larry battled Parkinson’s Disease for his independence with quiet courage and determination. A lifelong believer in exercise, he participated with Rock Steady Boxing and other movement programs to keep his body and spirit strong. In his final year and a half, he received compassionate care at The Retreat at Sunbrook in St. George, Utah. Larry’s family wants to extend heartfelt gratitude and a big hug to every caregiver and friend who surrounded him with dignity and kindness.

Larry was preceded in death by his wife Nancy, whom he loved fiercely and missed every day. He is survived by stepsons Randy (Kathy) and Dan (Tiffany), and son Russell (Ingrid); seven grandchildren (Kristina [Brian], Alex [Samantha], Theresa [Charlie], Asia [Tommy], Natalia, Uintah, and Sierra); and six great-grandchildren (Knox, Brett, Theodore, Payton, Bodie and Taylor).

Larry will be remembered for his devotion to family, a deep respect for the natural world and an unwavering sense of curiosity. His life was filled with service, love and the beauty of simple joys.

A service and interment of ashes will be at the Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church, 611 N 2450 E, St. George, Utah, where he and Nancy were founding members. Open to all who know Larry or his family, it will be held on Monday, November 3, at 11:00 am.