Lawrence "Larry" Wesley Tomovick was born November 13,1948 in New Castle, PA, and passed away in Anacortes on Thursday January 30, 2025. For most of his childhood he lived in Rapid City, SD and was deeply influenced by his grandparents (Larry and Betty Jacobson) who resided on their family property in the historic Strato Bowl in South Dakota.

Despite many hardships, Larry chose to face life bravely, to see the best in people, and lift all with his humor and humanity. After high school, he joined the Army, becoming a tank crewmember in Vietnam. On January 17th, 1969, Larry was gravely wounded when his tank was hit by a Vietcong RPG. He lost a leg, a hand and most of his eyesight. After a months-long hospitalization, he returned to the Oak Knoll Navy Hospital in Oakland, California. His brother Ken's first hospital visit found Larry not in his own room, but down the hall comforting another soldier also recovering from an amputation. That was how Larry lived – despite his own troubles, he always tried to help others.

Upon leaving that hospital Larry was blind. After months, doctors were only able to partially restore his sight. This did not stop him from getting a degree in Psychology from San Francisco State. He then worked for the VA as a counselor for a couple of years. He also designed and had three homes built in his lifetime – the first in Berry Creek, California.

He enjoyed many adventures. He went scuba diving in southern California, the Cayman Islands, Hawaii, and Baja Mexico. He even made three tandem skydives with his brother and friends in SD. He began sailing when living in California and eventually moved to Anacortes in 1992. There he built a second home and owned and captained a sailboat in the waters of Puget Sound and the Washington coast. Not able to produce a name for the boat, he left the word "pending" on the title document and the boat officially became registered as "Sir Pending."  The name fit as he had numerous girlfriends and three wives. When asked about his wives he would say: "It was because I had a string of bad luck." He also spent years as a master woodworker, crafting beautiful and one-of-a-kind furniture and frames that are still found in homes of friends and family.

For decades, he was a dedicated lap swimmer. He participated in Anacortes groups, including Peace Vigils and AA.  During the last couple of decades Larry found another passion – cycling on his trike with friends and family around Anacortes.

If you could measure a person's success by the quality and duration of their friendships, Larry succeeded beyond measure. On any given day at his home, friends were coming and going, and good "victuals" and fun times were found.

We will miss mentioning the names of most of you, so we apologize. But the following people were friends he considered family: Gary Charlson (Damascus, OR), Denise Morgan (Anacortes), Deborah Hudson (Anacortes), Jim Merrill (Berry Creek, CA), Bill Matson (Siem Reap, Cambodia), Cindy Dunham (Sheridan, WY), Byron Sneva (Anacortes), Friends of Bill W., (Anacortes), Peace Vigil (Anacortes), and Biking Friends. A special thanks to Doug Tibbles who always had a solution for problems around Larry's house.

Larry was preceded in death by his beloved mother, Alice "Pat" Tomovick, and is survived by his friends, his brother Ken and wife Cory, niece Lynne Loverich, her husband James and their son Benjamin (Rapid City, SD), brother Joe Wheeler (Seattle) and his nephew David Tomovick (West Plains, MO).

Larry left some notes expressing love and appreciation and asked that a party be held. A Celebration of Life service will be held for Larry in Anacortes on April 19, 2025, at the Seafarer's Memorial Event Center at 1:00 p.m. There will be time to share stories about Larry at the event. Humor is appreciated. A video will be presented with photos and stories. Send any story or photo you wish.