Larry Weight, the oldest of Lucille and Woodrow Weight’s six children, was born in Springville, Utah on his grandmother’s kitchen table. He lived in Springville throughout his youth, graduating from Springville HS in 1960. He enjoyed working as a cook at Bryce Canyon Lodge for 4 ½ summer and served an LDS mission in the Gulf States. Later he spent three years in the US Army and graduated from BYU with a bachelor’s degree in sociology.

The Army experience was a turning point in his life as he was radio operator at the platoon level in the 1st Cav Air Mobile in Viet Nam. The platoon was continuously shuttled by helicopter to hot spots, hostile actions from just north of Saigon to just a few miles from the DMZ. On the 3rd of March 1968 as he led a 6-man forward observation team, he was hit by a command-detonated land mine. His flak jacket saved his life, but he had internal injuries and serious wounds to his right arm and both legs, resulting in the loss of both lower legs. He spent 2 ½ years at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital near Denver. As an interesting side note, his discharge papers stated that he was honorably retired for “temporary disability.” Trust the Army to think that his legs might grow back!

As a kid, he always dreamed of owning a black stallion, and while in Colorado he bought a little black Morgan colt. He met and fell in love with Karin Dennis, who owned two Morgans. They had one wonderful daughter, Michelle, and over the years they raised, trained, and showed many Morgans, several of whom went on to win national championships. Larry loved his little family and all animals, and his Samoyed dogs were constant companions; Marko visited the Bennion Veterans Home so often that the dog thought the facility was his second home.

Despite wearing prosthetic legs, Larry managed to build a large two-story barn, five sheds, and a few thousand feet of fencing. Because they couldn’t afford power equipment, he and a neighbor hand-dug a 5-foot-deep water line several hundred feet to a back pasture. He loaded many thousands of bales of hay, then stacked them in the barn, never using his painful legs as an excuse to avoid heavy work.

A truly good-natured man, Larry was generous and kind. He and Karin welcomed a series of “stray” young people to their home, providing them with food and shelter. He truly loved others and often said that he admired the enemy soldiers he fought against in Vietnam as he considered them to be just regular men who were fighting for their own country.

Larry was proceeded in death by his parents. He is survived by his wife, Karin, daughter Michelle Weight McCardell, daughter-in-law Sheri McCardell, grandchildren Catcher McCardell, Emersyn McCardell and Wesley Mitchell, and by his siblings Lynn, Shirl, Randy & Danny Weight and Susan Weight Bartholomew. He is also survived by Elizabeth Seng and Elayna Clegg, whom he considered to be daughters.

The family is extremely appreciative of the care given by the fabulous staff at Bennion Veterans Home in Payson; he could not have been in a better facility. Thanks also to the good nurses from Suncrest Hospice and to family and friends who came to visit him.