Dean Larrick

Dean Larrick, 92, of Columbia, went to his heavenly home on March 25, 2024.

A Celebration of Life will be held on April 26th at 11 am at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Columbia.

Dean was born October 20, 1931, in St. Louis, Missouri, to the late Paul and Helen (Dean) Larrick.  He married Charlotte Demme on April 6, 1963, in Florissant, Missouri.

Dean grew up in South St. Louis and Kirkwood.  He was a proud graduate of Park University in Parkville, MO.  He received an induction letter into the U.S. Army in June 1953 and served two years, including time in West Germany as part of an artillery unit.  On returning to the U.S., he received a master’s degree in Political Science from Washington University in St. Louis. He was a career civil servant, working in personnel for the Department of Army in St. Louis, the Internal Revenue Service in Wichita, KS, and the Civil Service Commission (later renamed the Office of Personnel Management) in St. Louis before accepting a transfer to Washington, DC in 1968.  During his time at OPM, he served as the head of the Washington Area Office in the late 1970s and retired as Assistant Director of Staffing Operations in February, 1987. Dean was proud to have spent his career serving his country.

Dean loved to spend time with his family, organizing wonderful vacations to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, the Smokey Mountains, New England, Nova Scotia, and trips to many museums and historic sites up and down the Eastern U.S., with a special love for Civil War and Revolutionary battlefields.  He enjoyed time in YMCA Guide activities when his kids were young, and later serving as a Scout Master for his son’s Boy Scout troop and taking the bus home from work to see his daughter’s softball games and then walking home together.  Saturday nights were spent with his young family sharing large bowls of popcorn watching the Mary Tyler Moore and Bob Newhart Shows.  

Dean enjoyed history, art, and music. Living in Arlington VA provided many opportunities to pursue these interests, including visiting different Smithsonian museums and historic locations such as Mt. Vernon and Colonial Williamsburg and attending Marine Band concerts on the U.S. Capitol steps, Fourth of July celebrations on the National Mall, and the National Folk Festival at Wolf Trap Park. 

Dean was a man of many hobbies.  He took a night class on making stained glass art in the early 1970s, which was the beginning of a sequence of many far-ranging classes -- drawing, watercolor, small engine repair -- and included becoming a certified “master gardener”.  He was an avid vegetable gardener who kept a garden alive in an empty lot a block from his home by lugging gallons of water in a wheelbarrow in the hot Virginia summers.  One of his favorite foods was a ripe summer tomato eaten in the garden fresh from the vine.  He also loved movies, old and new (a love he passed on to his son and daughter), taking his son to Frank Capra’s “Why We Fight” series at the National Archives and his daughter to a 50th anniversary screening of “Casablanca” at the Campus Twin Theatre in Columbia.    His list of favorite movies included The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Harvey, The Producers, 1776, and It’s a Wonderful Life, and the list never stopped growing.  As a man of many hobbies, he enjoyed asking people “what are your hobbies?”

Dean and Charlotte moved from Arlington, VA, to Columbia, MO in 1989.  Dean spent his retirement years volunteering and painting watercolors.  He volunteered at the Boone County Council on Aging, the Columbia Art League, the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), and the Columbia chapter of the National Association of Retired Federal Employees (NARFE).  As an artist, Dean experimented with a variety of media but loved watercolor the most.  He had an eye for painting local scenes and settings.

Dean was an active member of Trinity Presbyterian Church where, through the years, he volunteered and served as an Elder. 

Dean is survived by his beloved wife, Charlotte; two children, Rick Larrick (Cynthia) and Lee Anne Larrick (Stacy Snow); two grandchildren, Campo and Kika, nephew Dean Stiegemeier (Peg), and niece Alexa Varner. 

He was preceded in death by his parents and by his sister, Mary Anne Stiegemeier.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to the Central Missouri Humane Society, 616 Big Bear Blvd., Columbia, MO 65202.

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