Obituary of Larew Mead Collister

Larew Mead Collister was born in the parsonage of the North Avenue Methodist Church, in Pueblo, Colorado, May 17, 1925. He was the seventh of nine children born to Thomas Collister and Eva McGowan Collister. The family moved to Iowa in the late 1920's and lived in Clinton, Ackley, Plymouth, and Cedar Rapids, where Larew graduated from Roosevelt High School. Larew studied at Cornell College, in Mt Vernon, Iowa, where he met Phyllis Fosket, who also was a student at Cornell. They were married in Cedar Rapids in 1944. Larew served in the US Navy as a Radar Technician. He was based in Corpus Christi, Texas when Phyllis sent him a telegram reading "Arrived Safely, John", in 1945. Birth notice telegrams were not allowed during the war but this cryptic message served the purpose. Larry finished a bachelor's degree at Iowa State University, Ames. Daughter Carol was born in Jefferson, Iowa during the time at Iowa State. He began his high school math teaching career in Fayette, Iowa, then Postville, and Maquoketa. When the first sputnik satellite was launched by the USSR, the US government decided that it was time to upgrade teachers of math and science. Larry won a fellowship to the University of Chicago, and earned a MS in math education in 1959. He then moved the family to Des Plaines, Illinois and taught for several years at Maine West High School. During the years in Iowa and Illinois there were many multi-generational family gatherings with both sides of the extended family. "Uncle Larry" was the family photographer and also mentored some nephew and niece math and computer interests. He was also godfather to Leah and John Peter Collister. In 1972 he and Phyllis, by now empty-nesters, pulled up stakes and moved to Seattle where he earned a Doctorate in Education from the University of Washington. He was demographer for the Seattle Public School district, accurately predicting student populations each year. A class he taught at the U. of Washington was especially appreciated by previously math-phobic grad students. He and Phyllis built a cabin at the outskirts of Mount Rainier National Park hoping to eventually retire there. It was their jumping-off place for many hikes and adventures in the park, and a place where they welcomed friends and family. When Phyllis' health began to fail they sold their house and cabin and moved closer to family in the Bay Area. After Phyllis' passing in 1993, Larry moved to Santa Cruz where he was a helpful young resident at Dominican Oaks, assisting older residents with computer problems and setting clocks for Daylight Savings Time. He taught one of the residents how to drive her maneuver her electric scooter in and out of her apartment. He is survived by his sister Ruth Jones and brother Emmett (Barbara) Collister, sister-in-law Gretchen Fosket, son John (Marilyn) Collister, daughter Carol George, grandsons Billy Collister and Kevin (Emily Cannon) George, step-granddaughter Hilary (Dan) Kaltenbach, and numerous nephews, nieces and their offspring. The family is grateful for the loving care given to Larry by Rejoice Ferguson and by the kind and capable staff at Brookdale, where he passed away peacefully with family at his side on July 3.