In Memoriam

Lawrence Harland Strom, Ed.D.

Dr. Larry Strom was born on October 16, 1942 in the Copper Queen Hospital in Bisbee, Arizona to John Albin “Al” Strom and Winifred “Wynne” Strom. Larry completed his contract with this earthly life on Sunday, Sept. 17, 2006 while on a motorcycle excursion in New Mexico.

After graduation in 1964 from Arizona State College at Flagstaff (now Northern Arizona University), Larry was employed by the U.S. Geological Survey, Center of Astrogeology, as an engineering technician. While employed at “Astro,” Larry worked on the Ranger, Orbiter, Surveyor, and Apollo space missions. His primary responsibilities included the development of geophysical instrument prototypes used for lunar exploration.

Upon completion of his work at Astrogeology, and a Master’s degree at Northern Arizona University, Larry accepted a fellowship to attend the University of Missouri at Columbia to study towards a doctoral degree in Industrial Technology. Larry received two degrees from the University of Missouri: an Educational Specialist degree (1969) and a Doctor of Education degree (1978). Dr. Strom’s dissertation was selected as the outstanding doctoral study at the University of Missouri for the decade of the seventies. His study was the first to use sophisticated multivariate analysis of variance processes in an educational study.

Larry was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Industrial Technology, School of Engineering and Computer Science, at California State University in Chico, from 1969 to 1976. Larry always took pride in how he “put the student first.” He kept in contact with students he had in his very first Engineering Graphics class at Chico State. He was part of a team that initiated the Construction Management and Manufacturing Management programs at Chico State.

From 1976 to 1999, Larry was on the faculty of Yavapai College in Prescott, Arizona. While at Yavapai, Larry helped establish the following programs: Yavapai Chapter of Phi Delta Kappa; Yavapai College Student Chapter 119, Society of Manufacturing Engineers (three times selected as the outstanding chapter in the United States); Yavapai College VICA (Vocational Industrial Clubs of America) Chapter; Circle K; Manufacturing Technology; Manufacturing Product Planning; Manufacturing Materials Processing; Solar Technology; Construction Technology; and Gunsmithing.

Larry enjoyed taking his students on field trips to high technology sites. Field trips were conducted to: Airesearch; JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory); Hughes Missile and Space; TRW – One Space Park; Lockheed; Edwards Air Force Base (visited every Orbiter while being fabricated); Northrop; AlliedSignal Aerospace; Universal Propulsion; Digital; Honeywell; Intel; Orbital Sciences; Motorola; McDonnell Douglas Aircraft; Disneyland (toured the catacombs under the amusement park that held automation equipment that provided the “magic” for the “Magic Kingdom”); TRW – Mesa; Revlon; General Motors’ Corvette Plant, Bowling Green, Kentucky; Ford Motors’ Large Truck Plant, Louisville, Kentucky; Los Alamos National Laboratory; and AlliedSignal, Kansas City, Missouri (Nuclear Weapons Plant).

Larry had an active professional life. He held offices in a number of professional organizations including Chairman, Region VII (11 western states) Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME); Chairman, International Education Committee, SME; Chairman, Phoenix Chapter, SME; President, Yavapai Chapter, Phi Delta Kappa; President, Arizona Technology and Industry Education Association; and President, Yavapai College Faculty Association. Larry was an active member in a number of professional organizations, serving on committees, planning and delivering conferences, and assisting in the successful operation of the organization. Organizations included: California Council of Industrial Technical Teacher Educators; California Industrial Education Association; International Technology Education Association; American Council of Technical Teacher Educators (life member); American Vocational Association; and Arizona Vocational Association.

Larry also received a number of honors including University of Missouri Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation (1970 Decade); Outstanding Young Men in America Award (1977); Society of Manufacturing Engineers Education Achievement Award (1981); National Society of Professional Engineers/California Society of Professional Engineers Contributions to Engineering Profession Award (1984); Society of Manufacturing Engineers Region VII Outstanding Contributions to the Engineering and Scientific Profession Award (1985); Los Angeles Council of Scientist and Engineers Distinguished Achievements Award (1985); Arizona Technology and Industry Education Association Outstanding Leadership Award (1995); and Epsilon Pi Tau Laureate Citation (1997).

He is survived by his mother and father, John Albin “Al” Strom and Winifred “Wynne” Strom of Prescott; brother John Strom (Jo Ann) of Victorville, Calif.; daughter Heidi Strom Moon (Ken) and granddaughter Julia Moon of Silver Spring, Md.; daughter (Wendy) Jo Strom Lane (Derek) of Portland, Ore.; longtime companion Arminta Tupper; extended family members; and many longtime friends, colleagues, students, and loved ones.

Those persons wishing to give their condolences may send cards to 535 Mesa Dr. in Prescott, AZ 86303. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, commemorative contributions be made to Yavapai Exceptional Industries, 436 N. Washington Ave., Prescott, AZ 86303. A memorial service honoring Larry’s life will be announced at a later time.

Can You Spell Lamborghini?

On Saturday, September 2, 2006, Arminta and Larry took a break from the living room project to drive up to Sedona to meet Jesse Maheu and his new bride, Jill. Jill and Jesse were in Sedona with the Italian Car Club of Las Vegas for the Labor Day Weekend. As we were driving through Page Springs we received a call from Jesse that the car club would like to meet us in Jerome for lupper. I suggested the Jerome Brewery.

We arrived in Jerome about ten minutes before the car club and proceeded to survey the town for any available parking. We finally found parking west of the new Fire Station up Perkinsville Road. After contacting Jesse with our parking discovery, we waited on a shady bench across the street from the Jerome Brewery.

It was not long before we heard the VERY distinct sound of six Lamborghini’s turning the corner at the Spirit Room. I jumped up from our bench and flagged Jesse down in his orange Murcielago V12.

We had a great time in Jerome with the car club, but maybe not the Labor Day tourists. When you put six Lamborghini’s in town, along with a souped up Plymouth Fury, and you spell major traffic jam from all the on-lookers. We felt like rock stars with all the people gathered around where ever we went. I bet they are still trying to untangle the Jerome traffic.

We really like Jesse’s wife Jill. She is from Independence, Missouri and has all those wonderful traits we love about Mid-Westerners.

Construction Zone Ahead!

Something must be up as Smoke (Larry's Blue Russian cat) is hidden DEEP under "Lou's Bed". Could it be the noise from the concrete saw carving its' way through the block wall on the west side of the living room? Yes, indeed! The long awaited patio door is being installed where the once "leaky" single pain window once stood.

What a difference a day makes! The living room has been transformed from a long narrow space into a window to the outside world. Views of the beautiful backyard now cascade into the living room. You can see the meandering creek below, along with the "million dollar" native rock wall, Tim Stotler built next door. It is also a delight to be able to step out onto the deck from the living room, rather than go all the way through the kitchen and around the house to get to the deck. Smoke also likes the setup as I caught him this morning sitting in the living room looking out the new door.

The new door will also be great for entertaining. In the past there would be two parties, one on the deck and the other in-doors. Not anymore!

Saturday afternoon found Larry and Tim Stotler, from next door, scraping the popcorn off the living room ceiling. Tim had a pressurized tank that we used to spray water on the ceiling and Larry scraped the popcorn off with a large drywallers trowel. Whole process took about two and a half hours. Thanks Tim! Drywallers show up Monday to drywall West wall, then tape and texture West wall, plus ceiling.

Monday, August 28, found all the drywall hung by the chimney with care. Flooring guy was here and all the caulking is done in preperation for final fitting. Tape and texture guys should be here on Tuesday for the wet stuff to be followed later by final floor finish, exterior stucco, clean up and paint.

Labor Day Weekend was the big push to get the living room back in order. Needed to get the painting done, so the cleaning crew could show up on Tuesday, September 5. Thanks to Arminta's help we were able to finish painting the living room. Using True Value hardware paint we painted Natural Ecru on the South, East and North walls, Lost White on the ceiling and Western Tone (adobe color) on the West wall. All colors on walls/ceiling are flat latex and trim was painted with Lost White Satin.

Today, Wednesday, will see the pictures hung with care and tomorrow the Mission style furniture will arrive in the afternoon. All of this just in time for the big SME Picnic on Saturday. We are expecting about forty five people to attend.

The re-model is almost complete. Need to get a clock for the mantle and touch up a few paint spots. For photographs of the project you can go to this link.

San Juan Expedition

On June 14, 2006 Doug Ploeser and Larry Strom set out on a San Juan Expedition. Our objective was to see as much green, gray and white as possible. The green was the beautiful vegetation inspired by our wonderful summer rain and the gray and white where the endless road of twisties through the "American Alps"!

The trip started at 7:00 a.m. with Larry riding to Flag where he met up with Doug and Chris. The duo left about 9:00 a.m. and stopped for lunch in Tuba City. Couldn't find a recommendation in Frommers.com, so decided a deli sandwich from Bashas would do the trick.

The remainder of the day was riding The Rez. Surprisingly traffic moved at a fast clip and we did not end up "stuck" behind a motor home! We rode to within 100 feet of the Four Corners, but decided, been there, down that, and headed for Cortez as a storm was brewing.

Sure enough about twelve (12) miles south of Cortez the sky opened up and down it came. We had been watching for windshield wipers coming towards us, so we could "take action". This was not to be the case as the cloud just gave way. Luckily Doug spotted a construction company office building and we stopped there to get out of the rain.

Stayed at the Rodeway Inn on the east end of Cortez. Perfect location with a DQ located across the street!!!!

After a good soaking we continued our way to Cortez. We even got hit by another small shower, but after a mile it was over. My First Gear riding suit worked great. Stayed dry and warm the entire way through the rain.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006 we were up and out the door by 6:05 a.m. I was somewhat concerned as BG, my new to me 2004 R1150R BMW, was "hard starting" in the morning. After studying the manual once again, and deciding to ignore holding the clutch in during a start, I was able to hold the choke switch up to the start position. After two tries we were off and running.

By Dolores, CO we were ready to pull over to "suit up". The temps had dropped enough to suggest we put on the winter gloves and get the fleece out for under the riding coat. Balaclava's also came in handy to keep the head and neck warm. After suiting up we were once again ready to ride the San Juan Mountain Skyway.

Our first stop, of many, on the San Juan loop was Rico, CO. Doug and I would stop frequently to take in the sites and take photographs. From Rico we made our way up Lizzard Head Pass and on to Telluride for breakfast at Sofio's. After breakfast we headed north to Ridgway, CO where "True Grit" and "How The West Was Won" was filmed and onto Silverton.

We were lucky enough to arrive in Silverton just minutes prior to the first narrow gauge train coming up from Durango. Doug loves trains, as does Larry, so it was not a problem to hang around to watch a couple of trains pull into town. However, one look at the sky and that was the signal to head south to Durango. We arrived in Durango on schedule and dry. We rode downtown to learn when the trains would arrive back from Silverton. While downtown we talked to a local who said we should not eat at Francisco's, but Gazpacho. Guess we will have to eat at Francisco's next time, so we will know if she was right. After checking in at the Siesta Motel we took the Durango Trolley downtown for dinner. While checking in we met Penny and Richard Segovia. They were riding in from Hanksville, UT on a couple of Harley's. Later we would all head downtown for dinner at Gazpacho and watch the trains return to the Durango station.

The next morning we had breakfast at the Durango Diner and headed out for Farmington, NM about 8:00 a.m. After riding through Farmington and Shiprock we headed south to Navajo, NM and over the mountain to Window Rock, AZ. We arrived in Window Rock about noon and set out to find the Window Rock. This was not an easy task as it was noon rush hour and traffic was like downtown Phoenix. Guess being the tribal capitol is not all that different from being the state capitol! Sure enough we found the Window Rock, took the mandatory photo, and headed to Ganado and Tribal 12.

After a lunch stop at BK in Ganado we headed west on Tribal 12. The portion of 12 through the Painted Desert was rough due to the inadequate roadbed in the Chinle formation. 12 was great from 87 west and is a great alternative to the rough and tumble ride on I-40. After passing through Leupp we knew we were in the home stretch. Arrived in Flag pretty much dry except for a shower just east of Ganado. Since it was only about 3:30 p.m. and no threatening sky's, Larry decided to make it a 476 mile day and head for Prescott. Down Oak Creek and up Mingus got Larry back home about 6:25p.m. after a fuel stop at Costco.

It was a great trip. Would do it again in a minute.

For photos click on this link.

Wendy "Jo" and Company

Wendy "Jo", Derek and DeLancey have just left after a visit to Arizona. It was Derek's second trip to Arizona, but first in the heat, and DeLancey's first trip to the Grand Canyon State. Everyone had a great time especially DeLancey. She loves rocks and there were plenty around to "slide" on and collect.


Things accomplished on the "check list" were:

1. In-N-Out Burger
2. Chicken Kiev
3. Mexican food (tamales, enchiladas, tacos, beans, rice, flour tortillas, chips and hot sauce)
4. Nick’s Feed Your Face
5. Snoopy storage evaluation
6. Family reunion site/date analysis
7. Rock collecting
8. Thrift store with Grimma
9. Congregational Church on Sunday with Grimma
10. Trip to Sedona rock stores, Slide Rock and Montezuma Castle
11. Baby blanket sorting
12. Gold panning
13. Listening to Grimpa’s rock stories and looking at his rocks
14. Disc golf in back yard
15. Etc. etc.


The weather cooperated with just sprinkles and highs in the middle eighties.

For photos from the visit go to this link.

Summer Visitors

Summer is the time for ice cream, popsicles and visitors. The middle of July, Barb Heaton, Larry's niece came over from Victorville for a four day visit. Barb arrived on Shuttle U and when Larry and Arminta went to pick her up, Larry saw Blue Whisper, his “old” Beemer parked there. Kit Yanka, the new owner and a driver for Shuttle U, had ridden Blue Whisper to work.

While in Prescott Barb and Grimma spent many an hour on Whiskey Row, every thrift store within one light year, not to mention breakfast at the casino! Barb scored some great items at the thrift stores. Maybe I should start shopping thrifts to see what motorcycle items might be available!

This past weekend Jerry, Arminta’s brother, Jill, Jerry’s daughter, and her three kids: Chandler, Caleb and Faith came up/over for a visit. The weekend was filled with picnics, motorcycle rides for the kids, disc golf, hikes, catching bugs, eating ice cream, popsicles and praying for rain.

Good Bye Wilson

It is always a sad day when one of your former students passes away. That might not be the case for most teachers, but for me it is always a loss because all my students became "family". In fact that was part of what made our Yavapai College ITEC Program "magic". We tried to create a safe haven for all students where they could feel "at home".

This past Monday, July 17, 2006, Wilson Thornton died in a hotel near his home. He had just started a new job in Saudi and was in the orientation program. Wilson had not been feeling well during the orientation and had gone back to his room to rest when he died.

I have many fond memories of Wilson starting back at Yavapai College in the seventies and then following his career around the world. I can still remember that beautiful fall morning when Wilson and Igaitte stepped into my Prescott classroom. From his accent and bright smile I knew instantly I had met a very special person. At that point in time our program was in the building phase. I had only been at Yavapai College for a couple of years and the college was barely ten years old. Wilson, along with Igaitte, were a tremendous help to me, and the college, as we developed programs together. Wilson was the key to the birth of our new Circle K Club at Yavapai College, serving as the first President. Wilson also helped me develop the Vocational Industrial Clubs of America (VICA) chapter at the college. I believe he was also an officer of that group. I do know that Wilson was one of the very first students in the United States to compete in the Arizona Skill Olympics CAD (Computer Aided Drafting) Competition.

Wilson was also like having a second professor in the classroom. He had such a wonderful demeanor and was always willing to help fellow students understand technical concepts. I can’t remember a day that Wilson did not have a great big smile on his face when coming to class. He loved learning and his achievement in school and later in life was a testament to that fact.

Wilson graduated from Yavapai College and headed down to ASU where he repeated his success. Thank goodness Wilson’s leaving Yavapai College was not the end to our friendship. After graduating from ASU and taking his first job overseas, Wilson would contact me from time to time to let me know how he and Igaitte were doing. Hearing from Wilson was like a foreign affairs briefing. He always seemed to be in the middle of a project that was, or soon to be, making International news.

Wilson also was a friend to my daughter, Heidi. When she studied her Junior Year Abroad through Tulane University, New Orleans at University of Birmingham, Wilson was there to greet her at the airport and make her feel at home in England.

I was always happy to see Wilson when he visited the states. Often I would get a phone call from him from who knows where. In fact most often I would have to bring the map up on my computer to see where he was located. I also enjoyed receiving Wilson’s e-mails, which meant he had slowed down just a little and had time to “play”.

I am so sorry our good friend has left us so soon. Knowing Wilson, he still has that great big smile while helping others in Heaven.