Obituary of Larry F. McArthur
Larry Francis McArthur (21 November 1931 - 3 October 2024)
Lieutenant Larry Francis McArthur, USNR Retired, a lifetime member of Clan Arthur Association USA, was born in Arkansas City, Kansas to Lawrence Eldin McArthur and Ula Jean (Dee) McArthur. He was a member of the Central Christian Church, having been baptized on 22 June 1941, and grew up in Canton, Ohio where he graduated from Lincoln High School.
A 32nd Degree Mason McArthur was a member of Honesdale Lodge No. 218 Free & Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania in Wayne County, the Valley of Harrisburg Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, and the Harrisburg Zembo Shriners, he lived at the Masonic Village in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania for twenty-one years.
In 1953 he graduated with Bachelor of Science degrees in Commerce and Geology from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio after attending Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois in 1949. McArthur was a lifetime member of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. In 1954 McArthur graduated from the United States Navy’s Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island and served on active duty as a U. S. Naval Reserve Officer from 1954-1959 specializing in Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) and Diving. He was a lifetime member of the Navy EOD Association. McArthur had active tours in locations in the U. S., on board the ASKARI ARL-30, and twice on Kwajalein, Marshall Islands, Micronesia.
From 1963-1973 McArthur was employed as an Advanced Projects Engineer for ILC Industries in Dover, Delaware during its NASA Apollo Lunar Space Suit Program. He returned to ILC Industries from 2000-2001 as a Quality Engineer for the NASA Shuttle Space Suit Assembly technical project. From 1973-1997 McArthur was employed as Director of Quality Systems at the Gentex Corporation in Carbondale, Pennsylvania advising engineering, manufacturing, and marketing management on quality systems applications for commercial and industrial safety products. He began his career as a Quality Control Inspector for the General Development Corporation in Elkton, Maryland from 1959-1961. He worked as a Quality Control Model Maker for United Scale Models, Inc. in Trainer, Pennsylvania from 1961-1962.
McArthur would continue to make models of historic ships which are displayed in maritime museums throughout the U. S. From 1962-1963 McArthur was a quality control research technician for Synthetic Ropes, Inc. in Chester, Pennsylvania. McArthur was a Senior Member of the American Society for Quality, certified as a Quality Auditor and Quality Engineer as well as a Registered Professional Engineer in California.
McArthur lived at the Masonic Village in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania since 2002. McArthur was predeceased by his wife Luella “Lu” M. Rasmussen McArthur (1928-2008) born to Peter and Hattie Mae Huffman Rasmusen in Multnomah County, Oregon. The McArthurs were married on 30 December 1955 in Portland, Oregon. During fifty-three years of marriage, from 1988-2008, the last twenty years, McArthur was a devoted caregiver for his wife who had Alzheimer’s Disease. For the last ten years of their marriage Mrs. McArthur lived at the Masonic Health Care Center at the Masonic Village in Elizabethtown. The McArthurs collaborated on historic property preservation projects, conservation of antiques, clocks, watches, music boxes, quilt making, sewing, photography, painting, ceramics, as well as showing purebred dogs.
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