‘Lived like he was dying’

When Larry Gibson’s Harley Davidson wrecked Aug. 12 (click here to read the story), the evangelistic tracts tucked in the back of his bike scattered all over the road.

“They went flying all over the place,” his wife, Anita, said. “But that is Larry’s style in spreading the Word,” she said with a laugh.

He was all out and all over and if that had to be the spot he died, then the sight of the tracts spread across the road was a perfect visual to depict his life, she noted.

“Larry would not want us to be sad for him. He would want us to know that he is in his ultimate destination,” Anita said. “He would also want people to do something … to find the ministry God has for you and do it.

“We get so lazy and a lot of times, we don’t do anything and we are just idle,” she said.

“You couldn’t keep Larry down,” she added. “He was a ‘get up and go’ person, a free spirit. He did a lot of missions trips, had a heart for Ukraine and had been there several times. He also had a heart for local missions and would get on his motorcycle and reach people through that. A lot of bikers will talk to another biker.”

And while the bike opened up conversations for Larry, he also never met a stranger, Anita noted.

“I can’t tell you how many friends Larry had,” she said. “It took no time for him to make a friend.”

One of those friends, Jeff Smith, agreed.

“I never heard him say anything negative about anybody,” said Smith, F.A.I.T.H. Riders chapter director at Wilsonville Baptist Church and fellow deacon there with Larry. “He wasn’t perfect he was it … a model Christian.

“If something needed to be done, he would say how much and when do you need it,” Smith said. “He got up every day willing to serve. … And when [difficult] situations arose in the church, he would say, ‘Let’s see what the Word says about how we are supposed to handle this kind of stuff.’”

Steve Thomas, pastor of Wilsonville Baptist Church, said he has been apart of some of those difficult situations and he could always count on Larry to “stand up for what the Bible said.”

“I always knew Larry had my back,” he said. “There was nobody that encouraged me like Larry.”

And whether it was teeing off on the golf course or visiting as next-door neighbors Larry and Thomas developed a tight bond over the past 12 years since Larry became a Christian.

“Larry came in full force and got stronger as he went,” Thomas said. “He knew what he was living for and he lived. … He understood this life is temporary.”