Larry Lee Klein

Larry L. Klein, age 88, of Savanna, Illinois, passed away Sunday, October 4, 2026, at Big Meadows Nursing Home. Service times will be announced in the near future as the family awaits his wife Judy’s rehabilitation at Allure of Mount Carroll.

Larry was born on December 3, 1937, in Bellevue, Iowa, the son of William and Mabel (Berry) Klein. He grew up in Savanna and graduated from Savanna High School in 1956, where he met the girl who would become his wife, Judy Weidman. After graduation, Larry answered the call to serve his country in the U.S. Navy, spending four years as an electrician aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Hornet. On August 31, 1958, he and Judy were married at the Presbyterian Church in Hanover, Illinois, beginning a marriage that would last 68 years.

After the Navy, Larry worked at several places, most notably Nitrin in Cordova, Illinois, and then Nestlé Purina in Clinton, Iowa, where he worked as an electrician for many years until his retirement in 2000. He was a hard worker and a skilled craftsman, and that same handiness showed in the ice fishing jigs he made by hand and gave away to everyone he met along the riverbank.

Larry was a true outdoorsman at heart. He loved hunting and fishing, and he was happiest on the water or in the woods. He enjoyed cruising the Mississippi on the flat boat and tent camping on the sandbars with his family. He loved ice fishing so much that no amount of cold could keep him home, and he was often the only person out on the ice on those days, sitting happily on his bucket.

Above all, Larry loved his family. He treasured loading everyone into the station wagon for road trips across the country, making memories at the Grand Canyon, Disney World, Mount Rushmore, and Carlsbad Caverns. After retirement, he and Judy traveled together on many bus trips around the country. They went white water rafting, watched Liberace and the Rockettes at Radio City, visited Boston, and took in the rolling hills of New Hampshire. At home, he could often be found settling in to enjoy a good spaghetti western.

Larry will be dearly missed by his wife of 68 years, Judy Klein of Savanna; two sons, Lonny (Linda) Klein of Savanna and Rodney (Carol) Klein of Polo, Illinois; one daughter, Cheryl (Craig) Michaelsen of DeWitt, Iowa; nine grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; and one sister, Shirley Stoddard of Savanna.

He was preceded in death by his parents; his son, Randy Klein; and three brothers, Donald, Dale, and Robert.