Lawrence (Larry) Lawson Looper, was born November 9, 1946, in Cleburne, Texas to William LeRoy Looper and Mattie Mae McBride Looper. He went to his heavenly home March 23, 2019, in Burleson, TX. Larry attended school all twelve years and graduated from Alvarado High School where he excelled in football and baseball.
He attended Tarrant County Junior College and played semi-professional football with the Dallas Rockets. In 1968 he went to work for Ling-Temco-Vought, better known as LTV and later became Lockheed Martin. His first job was providing parts for fighter jets in Viet Nam, even in an emergency, taking parts from jets on the assembly lines at LTV to get the grounded pilots fighting in the war in Viet Nam back in the air.
Later, while living in Arlington in 1974 he met his neighbor Linda Jacobs, and they soon married at the Farmer’s Branch Church of Christ. Shortly after his marriage to Linda, they moved to California. There Larry was assigned to the USS Ranger that was in port near San Diego, California, as logistics representative for LTV Aerospace under contract with the Department of Defense.
Life became a whirlwind as he traveled extensively on board aircraft carriers and Linda flew to join him while in port at Hong Kong, the Phillippine’s, and Italy. They lived in Imperial Beach, California, Virginia Beach, Virginia, Jacksonville, Florida and Newark, Ohio. Finally returning to his home town, Alvarado, in 1981.
After returning home he worked for the MLRS program about 10 years, which is long range missiles designed to hit a precise target. He was promoted many times and became Senior Logistics Field Manager. He worked with Department of Defense Navy contracts with LTV/Lockheed and spent 6 months at a time assigned to air craft carriers in the South China Sea and sailed around the world many times.
He was assigned to the USS Ranger, USS Kitty Hawk and USS Eisenhower to keep the A-7’s and F-16’s onboard these ships in top shape at all times. During this time he was witness to many pilots losing their life for which these memories caused great suffering over for the remainder of his life. Larry traveled all over the world for LTV which became Lockheed in 1999.
During this time he traveled to more than 15 different countries. He spent several 3 to 6 month tours in Germany. In 2004, he retired from Lockheed completing 36 years of service.
During his career, Larry had many wonderful stories to tell including one with an exposition for military top brass, such as 4 Star General Colin Powell, 65th United States Secretary of State. The Army base where Larry was assigned brought out all of its multi-million dollar Lockheed equipment for General Powell to witness its awesome, highly technical, mind boggling power. As General Powell “pushed the button” to fire the rocket a small part malfunctioned causing the rocket launcher to fail when fired.
The embarrassed and highly irritated base commander sent for Looper to rescue this awesome show of power. (This is a very cleaned up way of stating this situation! ) Larry brings out a roll of “duct tape” and strategically places a small piece… and the launcher worked perfectly.
General Powell stated how impressed he was by Larry’s duct tape ingenuity and the base commander wrote him a commendation letter for saving the day! Larry was a member of Alvarado Church of Christ for 38 years where he served as a Deacon working with missionaries and Central Texas Children’s Home until his health began to decline. Larry and Linda were married 45 years.
Their beloved children are Michael & Jamie Looper of Costa Rica, Gloria & David Baze of Alvarado, Aaron & Amber Looper of Lipan, Sunny Looper of Grandview and Joe & Kristin Looper of Hudson Oaks. Gloria preceded him in death in 2017. His cherished grandchildren are Justin & Stephanie Baze; Alahna Baze; Cayson, Braden & Felix Looper; Cannon, Carson & Creed Looper; Faith, Hope & Joy Petty; and Laiken Looper.
One great-grandchild, Zepplin Baze. He is survived by his wife, Linda, and brothers, Lail & Jimmie Ann Looper, David & Kathy Looper, nieces and nephews, and preceded in death by one brother, Gene Looper. The family requests memorials be made to Central Texas Children’s Home in Buda, Texas.
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