Larry Gilbert Dennis Strohacker passed away Jun 20th 2021 in OSF St Anthony Hospital, Rockford after a short illness. He was born January 19th 1936 at his grandmother's home in rural Ridott. He was a lifelong resident of Stephenson County and resided in Baileyville on his century owned farm. His lineage goes back to 1840 when they settled less than a half mile from his home.

Larry was the middle son of the late John H (Elfrieda) Strohacker of Winnebago and the late Vivian "Borchers" Strohacker of Forreston. His brothers are the Late Jerome (Patricia) and Special Friend Helen Winters of Freeport and Bruce (Pamela) Strohacker of Apple River. On July 31, 1964 he married the love of his life, Bobbie E. Aultman, of Oloh Mississippi, at Faith United Methodist Church in Freeport. He brought two sons to this marriage and added another son and daughter. Since both Larry and Bobbie each had prior marriages this was their 2nd marriage each. They would have celebrated 57 years of marriage together in another 6 weeks. They raised the 4 children Toby of Riverside CA, the late Randall, Stephen (Special Friend Garcia Pifer) of Baileyville and Stacy (Tim Cassell) of Freeport. He had 11 grand children who were his life. Seeing them made him light up like a lighthouse. Rachel (Dale Mullins) of CA, Brianna also of CA, Mikayla Palmer of Rockford, Allison Palmer of Lena, Gabriella (Hunter Deal of Champaign Ill, Lindsay (Joseph Edwards) of CA, Skylar (Derrick Quick) of Ridott, Seth Palmer of Rockford, Mycah Cassell of Dakota, Alayna Palmer Lena and Trinity Cassell Freeport. Larry's Great Grand Children are Daylen and Dakota Mullins, Remy Edwards, Emora Sanders and Warner Quick.

Larry spent most of his life as a Teamster in local 150, primarily working in Natural Gas. He worked for Beloit Pipe and Dredge from '64 to '80 when they closed. Then in '83 he started L. Strohacker and Son farm drainage tiling and covered all of North West Illinois. He went back to the pipeline with Northern Pipeline (NPL) in a Foreman position until retirement. Thru all his years on the pipeline he worked with his father, both brothers, many cousins and all 3 sons. He continued tiling until 2013 when he completely retired.

In his lifetime Larry was very active. He started pitching fast pitch softball for his father coached team. This took him to Class A level and he was on several World Series teams. Larry even became personal friends with Eddie Feigner of the King and his Court." He had a shoulder injury that caused him to drop to Class B and played extensively thru Illinois, Southern Wisconsin and into Iowa. Not many pitchers in the area could match his total games played and records. In high-school he was a natural athlete and football took him to Wisconsin State, now UW-Platteville. In his career there they missed a bowl game in Louisiana on a coin toss finishing 5th in small schools that year. This gave him and 2 other players an opportunity to meet representatives of the Green Bay Packers. Vince Lombardi and Bart Starr met them in Platteville's locker room and offered them a tryout for the Packers. He ended up declining on his grandpa's advice that he was already world class in softball. This led to a lifetime passion for the Green and Gold. In the '60s to early 90s he and Bobbie were avid hunters routinely traveling to Wyoming and Mississippi to hunt Elk, Antelope, Deer and Pheasant. In the late 60's he took up snowmobiling and enjoyed that the rest of his life. He rode all over Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan's UP, Minnesota, West Yellowstone 3 times and even into Canada. Late in life he attended most of his grandchildren events in school and watching their development to adults. And loved playing Euchre at the Forreston Fire Department among other locations. He had many friends in a wide range of fields and enjoyed the time he had with all.

A visitation will be held on Friday, June 25 ^th from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Walker Mortuary in Freeport. The funeral service will be Saturday, June 26 ^th at 10:00 a.m. also at Walker Mortuary. Interment will take place at Oakland Cemetery in Freeport. A memorial fund has been established for the Baileyville Baptist Church. Condolences may be shared at www.walkermortuary.com .

The funeral service will be available via zoom:

https://zoom.us/j/96747302334?pwd=SDJPNDliNUFTUXkvSWRpMzVxdzJMUT09

Meeting ID: 967 4730 2334

Passcode: strohacker