In Memory

Larry Vitale



 
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03/21/09 05:58 PM #1    

Steve Smark

He died in oct. 1998, at 49 yrs old, he was born in 1949. He was remarried & living in California & had a 1 yr old son. Our children are Lawrence Vitale, Rebecca Ritchey,& Angela Evans. Their current ages are 39, 37,& 35 yrs. At the time of his death he had 9 grandchildren, we currently have 14, and only 1 girl in the bunch. He died while playing basketball, he apparently had a sudden cardiac death. He was placed on a ventilator for a week, but never regained conciousness before he died.

This note was sent to me by Terry Laethem Lilley, which was forwarded by Larry's ex-wife-

06/16/10 08:18 PM #2    

Glen Mickowski

I kew Larry from the football team and because he lived two doors away from the girl I was dating and eventually married, Joyce Kent.  I remember Larry as being a bruising full back who was tough to bring down.  One instance is seared into my memory... when playing as a line backer during a scrimmage, I stepped in to fill a hole that he was running through.  He lowered his helmet and drove it into my solarplex, then just simply ran over me.  I couldn't breathe, my diaphram was in spasms and the coach had to come on the field to try and get me breathing again.  He did, and Larry came over to help me up and offerded this advice..."if you want to tackle someone coming at you, don't tackle high... tackle low".  I thanked him then walked off the field...being the smallest guy out there I decided not to tackle at all.  

He also was a very quiet guy, not moody just content within himself.  He was very strong and athletic and I believe the only sport he didn't letter in was hockey.  To hear he had a heart attack while playing basketball, sounds like just the way he'd want to go out....only to soon....much to soon.

Larry, I looked up to you in High School and I know there were a lot of other guys who did too.  You were able to hit the jump shot at the buzzer, break tackles and score in the 4th quarter and hit that double for the winning RBI...and you did it with class and a humble sincerity.  You wern't a bragger and you took things in stride like a gentleman.  I'm sorry to hear of your passing this life for the next but you've left behind memories that keep you with us even now. 


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