Larry L. Painter

Larry was my college room mate.  He was the second best room mate in the world only because our other room mate was only there Monday night through Thursday night.  Larry taught me a lot of things. One of which was how to cook.  I can still only make Velveeta and Rotel tomatoes cheese dip but I can cook if I have to thanks to Larry.  We moved apart but somehow stayed close.  I could fill a book with wonderful memories of my dear friend.  I look forward to bench racing with him again some day.

This is what I shared with Larry’s friends and family at his funeral:

 

They say it’s important to have good friends at work.  Someone you can complain to, share success stories with, some one you can always reach out to just to talk.  For me Larry was always one of those people.

 

As we all know, work has changed over the last few years.  The notion of 9-5 has gone out the window. With cell phones, blackberries, and a constant barrage of emails, it seems like you are always connected to the office.

 

That’s why it is so important to have good friends at work because work can become such a big part of your life.

 

Working with Larry over the past 6 years, I know he really liked what he did.  He was an important leader for our company and was able to personally touch the lives of hundreds upon hundreds of people.  He loved the role of being a leader.

 

As a leader, Larry had many functions.  One of those functions that he absolutely relished was as an analyst.  Larry loved to analyze things  – and he loved numbers!

 

We all know Larry was a very smart man. For a lot of people around our corporate office – he was too smart.  Larry was the guy that would always find the flaw in your presentation.  A misplaced decimal point, an incorrect calculation, any small error - he was all over it! It would generally take him less than a minute to find a problem on someone else’s spreadsheet.  Oh- he loved spreadsheets- It seemed that whenever finance would send out one to the group, Larry would redistribute it to everyone 10 minutes later, reformatted it in a much ‘better way”!

It used to drive our finance/accounting people nuts… I loved it!

 

As much as Larry seemed to be a numbers guy, what people would sometimes miss was that he was really a people person first.  He truly cared about people.  He always wanted what was best for the people around him, and he would do whatever he could to make a difference in their lives.

 

I know that he cared deeply for the people at work. You can see this as you look out into this audience and see the tremendous showing of support from all of his colleagues in attendance here today.

 

I know that he cared about his friends away from work too. I was extremely touched by the outpouring of support that this community showed to Larry and his family in their time of need. He was truly blessed with great friends.

Along with all the support, I know that Larry really enjoyed your company as well. I have heard all about how much fun he would have when he and his neighbors would get together. I am only sorry that I never made it to one of the  infamous “Painter’s Parties” that Larry always talked about.  The New Year’s Eve party in particular……..I’m looking forward to catching up with a number of you later in the day to find out if all those things that he said were actually true…..

 

Most importantly, I know that Larry deeply cared, and absolutely adored his family.  He would always beam with pride whenever he would talk about them. Regardless of where he was or what he was doing, his family was always top of mind.

 

I would hear about Brian beating him on guitar hero, or Haley’s dance competitions. He was still beaming the last time I saw him a couple of months ago, and was still talking about Mallory’s wedding!

 

And when it came to Cathie, she was always on his mind. There was never a day that we spoke at length, where her name didn’t come up with great affection. She was his soul mate, and it was clear that she was the world to him.

 

Like many of you, I have a lot of memories of the time that I spent with Larry.  Unfortunately, one of my most vivid memories was of the day I learned of his illness.  We used to talk every Monday morning- first thing.  Sometimes we wouldn’t talk so much about work as to just catch up on our weekends and the previous week. During football season we always talked about our teams.  Now I am from Philadelphia Eagles fan ( no offense) and obviously Larry was a devout Cowboy fan.  Our conversation actually took place the day after a big game when we spent 10-15 minutes joking back and forth about our teams.  After that conversation came to an end, he became serious, and told me that he had cancer.  It was obviously a shock, but what I remember most is not that he said it, but HOW he said it.  How very poised, determined, and positive he was about the whole thing.  Here he was diagnosed with stage four cancer and he wasn’t even batting an eye!  He was going to beat this thing, and at that time, with the way he said it and the determination in his voice, I had every belief that he would.

 

It was that same positive, never give up attitude that carried him through his past few months and right up until the end.

 

Sadly, Larry wasn’t able to outlast the disease and he has left us here on this earth way too soon.

 

But fortunately for all of us, his courage, determination and wonderful spirit will ALWAYS live on in our hearts!

My name is Wade Sharp, Regional Director in the Southeast. I’ve worked for Larry off & on for 5 years, mainly due to different realignments

 

I would like to thank Suzanne, Sheriff  & Gabe for giving us this opportunity to memorialize Larry through this venue. We also were afforded the opportunity to attend Larry’s funeral in Dallas. I would like to thank you for that. Larry meant a lot to many people

 

For anyone that knew Larry from afar... He was known as a analyzing; excel spreadsheet producing guru that was a quite, serious guy. He was much more than that after getting to know him... Larry was not only great at those things; he was great at being a Leader, Coach, and Mentor & certainly at being a friend.

 

When I first heard that I would be working for Larry, My immediate thought is that I would be buried in spreadsheets & over-analyzing the business, to a degree that I would not enjoy. That turned about to be totally wrong. While Larry did do those things, It was always was in a supportive manner. Helping us to better understand & analyze the business. Most people thought Larry was very quite & he was to a degree... Larry listened more than he spoke. As a result, when Larry expressed his opinions or set a directive for our Zone, we listened.  When Larry had something to say, it was always spot on & valuable insight.

  

My definition of Leadership is the ability to influence people to get the desired results & by doing that you must truly care & even Love the organization that you work for, as well as the people in it.  Let me tell you, Larry loved this business & he loved the people in it… Some of you may not know this but Larry called every SD in his organization the week of their Birthday. 600 stores & he called every one not to mention the DM’s on their birthdays & work anniversaries. Rodney Zeedyk a DM in my Region celebrated a birthday just 3 days ago… This past weekend, he received a signed Birthday card with a personal note from Larry. To this day, I’m still not sure how he found time to do this but it was that important to Larry because he truly cared for his people.

 

Larry was also a fierce competitor. He wanted to be # 1 EVERY WEEK, not only at work, but at play as well. When we would have meetings, Larry would love to do the go-cart racing. He was very good. He won almost every time. I remember one time when he & another DM, Paul Osborne were racing. They were neck & neck for the 1& 2 spot. I was 3^rd. Well, they went around a curve & Paul being the competitor he was, spun Larry out. By the way, I did tell Paul how he was not thinking about his career when he did that. When he did, I T-boned Larry. It was a very hard impact. Busted the engine bracket on Larry’s go Cart. Larry just looked back at me winked & took off. He was upset that Paul beat him. That was his only loss.  I asked Larry how he always won & of course it came down to tire wear, ergonomics of going into the curve, knowing when to break, but not too hard... He had it analyzed …..& it worked for him.

 

I would also like to share a personal story with you… My 1^st performance review as a Regional Director went very well, I was fortunate enough to have a great team & my results were very good.  I did have at the time what I thought was a genuine concern for me. As you can probably tell form my accent, I am from the South, and I live in TN.  The 1st Regional Director meeting I attended was as if everyone wanted to hear me speak, not because of my insight or my wit…. It was my accent... People were saying, hey Wade, say something. Remember, this was when everyone form the SSC was from Portland & the majority of or company was from the West Coast.

 

Being new to the Director rank & of course wanting to continue my career, I was generally concerned that people would not take me seriously & I expressed that to Larry. Larry smiled & said, Wade, when people get to know you & see your passion, if they cannot see past your accent, you don’t want to work for them anyway. Just be yourself…Of course being the leader that he is & understanding that I needed more, he did give me a few pointers.

Since that time, Larry always made a point to try & make me feel at ease. If I were to go a week or so without speaking to Larry, he would always say something to the fact of, Wade, Its great to hear your voice, I’ve missed that Southern accent. Then a couple years ago we merged with MG & had our 1^st company conference call with the New CEO. Let me tell you, he even sounded Southern to me. Shortly after the call, Larry called me & said, see Wade, everything works out OK, I’ll probably be reporting to you soon. Obviously Larry was kidding but it was his way of continually putting me at ease with my concern.

 

Over the past couple years; we have had some very tough times in our company. We were obviously concerned about losing some of our best people. One thing that Larry would remind us of is that people don’t work for companies, they work for people. If we truly had care, trust & respect for our people, they would know that & would stick through the hard times. I can tell you that our zone lost very few people during those tough times.  Obviously, Larry was the epitome of Trust, Care & Respect.

 

Larry touched many lives while he was with our company. That was evident at his funeral on Wed. There were DM’s & SD’s that drove over 4-6 hours to attend Larry’s funeral. They would tell you, that they would not have missed it.

 

I spoke with Larry briefly on Friday. He rang my phone by mistake, I was in an interview & I missed the call but called him back shortly… He answered in a very painful & emotional voice & said Wade, I dialed your phone by mistake I’m sorry, Can I call you back later. I said absolutely Larry call me anytime. Looking back I was very upset that I disturbed him because I’m sure he was surrounded by family & loved one at this point. But true to Larry’s nature & our friendship, I’m certain that was his way of telling me goodbye.

 

In closing I would like to say that in life, there are not many people that you can look back & say that they impacted your life... Larry was one of those guys for me. When I’m sitting in a training class years down the road & a facilitator asks...  Name someone that has most influenced your career or life, Larry Painter will be one of the 1^st that comes to mind.

 

Thank You

Larry was my boss and friend for 6 years. The memories I want to share with you are how he made a difference in my life, and that of my team, both as a professionals and as people. 

Quiet, Effective Leader

One of the most important things we learned from Larry was that you can achieve excellence in a gentle, caring, and ethical way.  You can attain respect by planting seeds and letting others reap the harvest. You can be a leader by consistently following a set of values based on integrity, character, and effort. You can earn the admiration of your peers by truly caring and listening.  Larry was very quite leader, unselfish with his time, and always willing to do whatever it takes to achieve.  Larry always challenged all of us to develop everyone to the next level.

Analytical and Methodical

Larry, as we all know, took a very analytical approach to each task at hand.  His uncanny Excel spreadsheet skills speak for themselves.  I recall numerous times when we would have the weekly team call and within minutes of the call ending here comes a 4 page color spreadsheet complete with pivot tables from Larry showing us in where we were, where we need to be, and what needed to be done to get there.  Many of us tried to out “spreadsheet” the Master  but I think he might have had extra fingers or something.  His ability to compile and analyze reports into more used friendly reports was truly amazing.

 

He always was prepared and did his research. He continually challenged the team by asking probing questions, expecting all to know their numbers and what they meant.

 

He established and maintained a work ethic for which all others tried to emulate.

 

Team and People, Caring, Compassionate

 

Number crunching was not the only thing Larry “Excelled” at.  He genuinely cared for the people on his team.  Larry believed that “People lead People” and to “Lead by Example”. Little things, made a huge motivational impact on every single person on the team.  He provided all of us with a sense of family.

 

For instance:

·         He made it a mission to know everyone’s name in the every store

 

·         Larry always made everyone feel at ease while visiting your store.  We may have not gotten the the joke, but he it made us feel better when he laughed.

 

·          It was not uncommon for him to walk into the Game Crazy and challenge you to Wii bowling or Guitar Hero.  We would oblige and then brag when we beat him. 

 

·         We never felt terrible about a store walk through with Larry, just challenged. 

·         He always closed every conversation with team members by stating “how much he appreciated everything you do for us”.

·         Larry called personally every District Manager and Store Manager on their birthday with his best wishes. To give you insight …just this past Saturday one of my District Managers received a birthday card in the mail.  It was from Larry.  Even with his personal situation dire he still thought of his team all the way to the end. That was Larry. 

 

Larry was a beloved and deeply valued leader for our Zone and for our entire company. He was a man of superior knowledge and experience in operations, and a true teacher in the field for all who worked with him. He instilled a sense of ownership and responsibility in all of us. 

He convinced each and every member of his team that individual effort mattered and that “people lead people”.  He elevated our desire to succeed in every area of our business and gave us the confidence to take on the toughest challenges head on.   

He will be remembered always for countless contributions to the Hollywood family along with instilling a sense of pride and self-worth in his team.

The highest honor we can continue to pay Larry is to continue KNOCKING OUT THE COMPETITION.  He was and will always remain the pillar for which our future success will have been built upon.  Larry, we will miss you dearly. 

 

 

This is what I shared at Larry's funeral...

 

Not only was Larry a great husband to Cathie and an exceptional father to Mallory, Haley, and Brian, he was also a great leader, boss, mentor, and friend to many here today.  Larry was a soft spoken man whose actions spoke loudly.  He earned the respect, love, and admiration of everyone who worked with and knew him.  Larry was a man of great integrity, great character, and great humility.

 

See, Larry was the type who deflected the spotlight.  He was the kind of person who was humbled when receiving praise and was quick to give all the credit and recognition to others.  If I had to describe Larry in one word, it would be UNSELFISH.

 

Let me give you a couple of personal examples of why I chose that word.

 

Three and half years ago, we were in Portland, OR for a meeting.  In the middle of the night, I awoke in my hotel room and had to be rushed to a local hospital.  My roommate at the meeting, Alex Arrian, called Larry to let him know what had happened.  Keep in mind that Larry had only known me for a few months; Larry quickly came to the hospital to check on me.  Once he knew I was stable, Larry asked for my home phone number so he could call my wife.  He left the room and proceeded to make the call and came back a few moments later.  I asked him if he had got a hold of her and he said yes.  I asked him “what did she say?”  I could tell he felt a bit awkward and uncomfortable but finally he said, she said “Ok” and hung up. I went “oh”…Turns out that Larry called the wrong number and were still not sure who he “crank called” in the middle of the night.

 

Well, hours passed and the doctors wanted to run some additional tests.  Larry was supposed to fly home early that morning and I told him that I would be alright and he should catch his flight.  But Larry would not hear of it and as another example of his unselfishness, told me he would stay as long as I was in the hospital and would fly home with me.

 

It turned out that I had to stay in the hospital for 18 hours – Once the doctor informed us that I could fly back to Dallas, Larry went to check us out of the hotel.  Well, as you can imagine, I didn’t really have the time to pack my suitcase before I was carted off by the ambulance.  So Larry went to my room and packed all of my DIRTY clothes, yes, even my underwear!  Now, I don’t know about you, but I think it takes a pretty special man to touch another guy’s worn undergarments….UNSELFISH! ….

….On a side note, Larry actually apologized to me that he had just threw my stuff in the suitcase versus taking the time to neatly pack it!

 

Secondly, this past year when I was weighing my decision to leave Hollywood and pursue another career opportunity, Larry unselfishly listened and offered both professional and personal advice when discussing my options.  Even though he wanted me to stay, he encouraged and supported me to make the best decision for myself.  As always, he put my best interests ahead of his. 

 

There are many other examples I could share of Larry’s unselfishness as I know all of you could as well.

 

A few years ago, Larry had everyone on his team read a book titled “How Full Is Your Bucket?”  The premise of the book is that as individuals we go through life either filling or dipping from others’ buckets.  A positive or kind word, gesture, or action would add to one’s bucket, while negative words or actions would “dip” from the bucket.  Larry would ask us consistently, “what are you doing to help fill the buckets of the individuals that we interact with on a daily basis?”  You see, Larry believe wholeheartedly in filling buckets, because he, himself, was a bucket filler.  In fact, when I spent time with Larry, my bucket overfloweth.  He was simply that kind of person.

 

I’m a better person for having known Larry – He made people around him better and there are so many here today that could testify to that.  I feel very fortunate to have been his friend.  He had a big heart and was always optimistic.  He chose to see his life and the world as a glass half-full versus half-empty.  His positive attitude was contagious.  Knowing him was truly a joy.

 

Just a few more things I thought you should know about Larry:

 

Larry’s favorite movie was “The Family Man” – And those two words, “family man”, defined who he was.  While he worked very hard and was committed to his profession, family ALWAYS remained the most important part of his life.

 

And did you know that Larry was a “closet” rocker?  Larry loved to listen to rock ‘n roll music in his car and on his iPod.  Can you imagine Larry as a “headbanger”?  One of his favorite songs was the southern rock hit by Lynyrd Skynyrd…Freebird.  Isn’t it ironic that the first 2 lines of the song are…?

 

“If I leave here tomorrow

Would you still remember me?”

 

Larry, we will NEVER forget you!

 

In my mind, Larry is that freebird and now he is free of all the pain, and he is free to fly to take his place in heaven.  We will sorely miss you Larry.  Rest In Peace my friend.