Larry Keating

Larry Keating, 79, ended his three-year negotiation with cancer at Hospice & Community Care on Friday, September 20, 2024, a day when he noted 147,117 other people died worldwide; his passing would barely register. Larry lived his early life in New Cumberland, PA. At 17, he joined the US Navy for a six-year enlistment needed to train as an electronic technician and a nuclear propulsion plant operator. He spent much of this time in Charleston, SC, and aboard the submarine the USS Von Steuben, SSBN 632 (Blue), from which he was honorably discharged in 1968 as an ET1 (SS). He then set off to Penn State, where he served as the Resident Assistant in the Navy ROTC dorm and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1971. Then to the University of Virginia School of Law, where he met his wife-to-be, Jan Masland. Upon his graduation in 1974, they set off for two years in San Francisco. They returned to PA, settling in the neutral territory of Lancaster (Jan was from Carlisle). Larry spent most of his legal career at Armstrong World Industries, Inc., and at the instance of Jan, graduated from an early class of Leadership Lancaster, which set the stage for a parallel career in volunteerism. Larry became involved with numerous community organizations, including SCORE Lancaster Lebanon, Lancaster YWCA, The Common Wheel, Leadership Lancaster, and The Janus School. Blessings all. His passion for the outdoors was greatly aided by good friends on bicycles & skis, and at Tumbling Run Game Preserve, an idyllic inholding in Micheaux State Forest, and at RoundTop Mountain Resort, where he volunteered on Mountain Safety for more than a decade. Looking back on his life, if asked, he would tell you that, left to his own devices, he would have made a grand mess of things. But he was rescued time & again by what he came to call his friends in high places. He took no credit for the path his life followed —how he got into submarines, college, & law school, & how he ended up in Lancaster and its wonderful community with the only woman in the world for him and his extraordinary children. He wished everyone knew that they have their own friends in high places, the kind who don’t need prayer, who are on the job every day right beside you to get you through, and don’t know shame, fear, or guilt. Imagine the burden that would lift from all of us suffering souls. Larry is survived by his wife, Jan Masland and his children, Benjamin (Colorado), Elizabeth (Philadelphia), and Bridget (Lancaster). He loved them all beyond description. He was predeceased by two brothers & two sisters and is survived by sisters, Mary (Virginia) and Lucy (California) and by nieces & nephews whom he dearly loved. He knew that nothing was perfect, but he had great family, friends, paper route customers, fellow volunteers, dogs, bikes, & skis. What a life. He thanks you all. Authored by Larry himself as those who knew him have probably guessed. Relatives and friends are invited to attend Larry’s Memorial Service at First Presbyterian Church, 140 E. Orange Street, Lancaster, PA on Friday, October 4, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. with The Rev. Dan Snyder officiating. The family will receive friends at The Groffs Family Funeral Home, 528 W. Orange Street, Lancaster, PA on Thursday evening, October 3, 2024 from 5:00 p.m. to 6:55 p.m. and again at the church from 10:00 a.m. until the time service. A livestream of the service will be available at https://client.tribucast.com/tcid/a24092847546347 beginning at 11 a.m. on Friday, October 4, 2024. Private interment. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent in Larry’s name to Hospice & Community Care, 685 Good Drive, P. O. Box 4125, Lancaster, PA 17608-4125, The Janus School, 205 Lefever Road, Mount Joy, PA, 17552 or SCORE Lancaster-Lebanon, 115 East King Street, Lancaster, PA 17602.