Larry J. Casey

Larry J. Casey

1932-2021

NOVEMBER 9, 1932- MARCH 19, 2021

Larry Jack Casey, age 88, of The Woodlands, Texas passed away unexpectedly on Friday, March 19, 2021 of natural causes.

Larry was a second generation American. His grandfather, Leonard Casey migrated from Ireland to Iowa after The Great Potato Famine of 1845-1849. Leonard left behind his future wife with the promise to send for her after he was settled and raised a crop and knew he could be a successful farmer in America. He arrived at Ellis Island, acquired a wagon, animals and supplies needed and joined a wagon train and set out for Osceola, Iowa where he had received a land grant.

Leonard Casey built a home, raised a successful crop and about a year later sent for his fiancée. He loaded his wagon and went to Ellis Island to meet her. They were married and returned to their Iowa farm.

Ownership of the farm was passed to their only child, George and wife Wilma. On November 9, 1932, Larry Jack Casey was born in the middle of an early blizzard. Because of the weather Larry arrived an hour before the doctor. He grew up on the farm, which by then included a dairy. He loved Saturdays because he and his mother went "to town" so his mother could trade eggs, butter and cream for groceries.

Larry rode his horse to school everyday, which was a one room school house with one teacher until high school. He graduated from Osceola High School where he played basketball and baseball and received a baseball scholarship to be a pitcher at Iowa State.

After his freshman year at Iowa State he was drafted in to the U. S. Army. He was assigned to the Medical Corp. and all his service was at Fort Polk in Louisiana where he became the leader of the Medical Corp.

He completed his service in the military and returned to the farm for a short time before going to work in the insurance industry insuring large trucks. In a short time he became a Regional Manager covering five states. This is when he learned to fly and purchased his first airplane.

Larry was recruited by one of his insurance clients and began his career in the Oil and Gas industry. After a brief time the company was purchased by Pure Oil Company and he was transferred to company headquarters in Chicago, within a year after the transfer he became National Sales Manager and bought a larger airplane.

While at Pure Oil he met and became friends with Dan Duncan, founder of Enterprise Products. Dan recruited Larry to join Enterprise and moved to Houston.

Larry's dream was to own his own Oil and Gas Company where he would meet people for lunch or dinner and make deals on napkins while enjoying a meal. He later founded Xcel Products Company, while continuing a close working relationship with Enterprise, and he bought a larger airplane. He sold Xcel in an employee buyout in the 1980's and retired.

Larry worked hard and played hard. He was a big game hunter, went on eighteen African safaris, hunted on six continents and won numerous hunting awards including The African Big Five and The North American Big Sheep Grand Slam. He was an avid reader, loved music, an art collector and loved to entertain. He entertained most weekends at his exotic game ranch in Leakey, Texas until he retired.

Larry served on the board of directors of several banks and was an Advisory Board Member of Enterprise Products at the time of his death. In 2019 Enterprise named a tugboat in his honor, The MV Larry C.

Larry was a member of Cypress Creek Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and lived in the Champions area until 2020. He was residing in The Woodlands at the time of his death.

Those left to cherish his memory include his wife and soul mate of twenty three years, Ann Bandy Casey, son John, Kevin Meine and Karen Meine who he claimed as his son and daughter when he married Ann, six grandchildren and two great grand children. Also a large extended family and many friends.

He was predeceased in death by his parents, George and Wilma Schaffer Casey and wife Irene Halton Casey.

Family and friends are invited to a Concert and Worship Service to Celebrate the Life of Larry at 4:00 P.M., Saturday, July 17, 2021 at Cypress Creek Christian Church, 6823 Cypresswood Drive, Spring, TX 77379. Reception afterward.

Donations in Larry's memory may be made to Cypress Creek Christian Church. www.cyoresscreek.cc.

'YOU ARE MY GOD, I THANK YOU AND PRAISE YOU.' PSALMS 118: 28