Obituaries

Lawrence R. (Lar) Townsend 17 March 1964 – 11 December 2024 He died suddenly and unexpectedly at home, age 60.

Married 13 June 1998 to Carolyn (Carol) Anne Gundrum 

Preceded in death by father Lawrence B. (Larry) Townsend, mother June D. Wanke, and grandmother Dorothy (Grammy Dot) Wanke. 

Survived by his wife Carol, his brothers Christopher (Susan) and Ken (Lynnette), nieces and nephews Marie Kortlever, Katie (Bob) Deelstra, Jared (Shanna) Kortlever, Kaileigh Townsend, Payton Townsend, Sloan Townsend, Taylor Townsend and John Townsend, and cousin Jennifer (Christian) Mueller. 

He served in the Army 1985 – 1989.

When Lar was born on St. Patrick’s Day in a Chicago hospital, the nuns asked his mother “So…are you naming him Patrick then?” June said, “No, he will be Lawrence, after his father.” The nuns said, “Ah, of course… his middle name will be Patrick then?” June said, “No, it will be Robert after my father.” The nuns then said “Oh, so you’ll be leaving us now, will ya?” This was typical of the stories told around the table at the Townsend household, filled with love and laughter. 

He got his nickname because when he was around 3 years old, he was sitting with his father while Larry read to him. June didn’t want to disturb the two, so she scribbled a quick note that said “To Big Lar” (pronounced “lair” like the first part of “Larry”). Lar saw that, sounded it out and said “Daddy, that says to big Lar”(which he pronounced like “car” because…well, phonics.) “Big Lar, that’s you Daddy. That means I’m little Lar.” And he was Lar to his family and friends from that moment on. 

Reading – words in general – were so important in Lar’s life. If there were words within sight, he would read them. Signs, books, captions, back of a cereal box… he read constantly. And he loved word games – anagrams, puns (oh the PUNS!), spoonerisms, malapropisms; he had such joy in playing with words. He devoured books and his personal library is filled with science fiction, computer books, fantasy, role play gaming books (RPGs; think D&D), speculative fiction… when he and Carol got married, they combined libraries, culled out the duplicates (fewer than you might think – Carol is more science fantasy to Lar’s harder science fiction), and they still had over 2000 board feet of books. 

Lar’s life was filled with games. He started playing RPGs in junior high school – Champions and Dungeons & Dragons were favorites. Morrow Project, Torg, homebrew…didn’t much matter. If he could spend his time building worlds, stories, and characters while hanging out with his friends, it was time well spent. He also loved playing board games. From an early age, his family played Boggle, dominos, Sequence, almost any classic board game from the 70s and 80s that you can think of. He even created a game – Faster Than the Bear – based off a game his family played at all gatherings called “dimes.” 

His love of games led to what was called the Lar Party. Starting in junior high, a few of his friends would come home with him from school Friday afternoon of the weekend nearest his birthday. They would go into the basement, play games all weekend, and go to school on Monday. This continued into adulthood, every St. Patrick’s Day weekend. The invitation would read “come when you can Friday after work, stay as long as you like, we’ll kick you out sometime Sunday night.” Covid made the Lar Party go virtual for a few years. 2025 will see us celebrate the Lar Party one last time; more details on that to come. 

Music was a huge part of Lar’s life. He played bassoon in high school and college. He had an extremely eclectic playlist, but his favorite era was the 80s. He could “name that tune” in so few notes. He would often (OFTEN) quote lyrics in the middle of a conversation. 

Computers were a passion since early childhood. His father Larry taught him how to program a computer to create a “times table” when Lar was 8; Lar said that from then on, it was better (and more time effective) to program a computer to do repetitive tasks over and over than to do that task yourself. If he had to do something on a computer more than three times in a row, he would write some code to do that thing. He worked with computers his whole career, ending up as a programmer/analyst for Discover Card, making the IVR system (the “press 1 for…” system) as smooth and user-friendly as possible. He hated bad IVRs. 

It was due to computers that Lar and Carol met in an AOL chat room. Lar, the sentimentalist, saved the chat log of their first conversation and printed it out on continuous fan-fold computer paper that survives to this day; it is somewhere in Lar’s computer room. 

Games. Words. Family. Friends. 

Love.

That was Lar.

Services will be held Saturday December 28, 2024, 11:00 a.m., at St. Charles Episcopal Church, reception following. The service will be live streamed on the church’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Lar’s memory to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Downers Grove Public Library Foundation.

• Send Flowers
• Guest Book
• Share
• Email
• Print