Larry James 1938-2020

May 25, 2020  — We are saddened to report the death of Larry James on Saturday, May 16, 2020. Although his obituary mistakenly says he graduated from LHS in 1957, we know he is our classmate and we wish to express our sympathy to his wife and family.

HERE for Larry's obituary from the Lawrence Journal World.

One of the best things about what I do is having the opportunity to write about interesting people. In 1992, Joe Kelly, President of Douglas County Bank, commissioned me to write a 40-year-history of the bank. I couldn't imagine how to make a bank history interesting until I came up with the idea of charting the growth of the bank's business accounts along with the bank's growth. I don't think any other banker would have allowed me to do that. Joe did. I wrote about a butcher (Harwood's Meats), a baker (Joe's Bakery) and a Candlestick Maker (Waxman Candles). I also wrote about a great many more businesses, including classmate Larry James' auto parts business. I think you may be interested in how Larry built a successful business, so here is the excerpt on Larry:

     Larry and Mary James have two good reasons to remember the year 1969, particularly the date of October 27, for that was the day their youngest child was born and also the day when they gave up the security of regular paychecks in favor of opening Larry's Auto Supply, Inc. on 23rd Street. "My first day in business, Larry James muses, "and I didn't get to work until noon!"

     Clearly, his late start had no impact on the long-term success of his enterprise, because James has watched eleven local parts stores go out of business during his twenty-five years of successful operation. When asked to what he attributes his staying-power, James is quick to answer, "We've been blessed with good customers and good employees — we haven't had a big turnover in help — and we've always tried to be honest and provide good service."

     Larry's Auto Supply has purposely remained small in order to offer the quality of service expected by its customers, and the business is truly a family affair. Mary James serves the business as bookkeeper and all three James children have at one time held jobs there. A son-in-law works at Larry's Auto now, and he and another long-time employee are associates who plan to continue the business when James decides to retire.

     Like many young people who decide to launch a business, the couple did not have a lot of capital to invest so, according to Larry James, "We went to Douglas County Bank and basically mortgaged everything we owned!" James greatly appreciates the counsel he has received from Joe Kelly over the years. He cites an occasion when Kelly advised him to cut his losses on a project that James had decided "just wasn't working out the way it should." James visited Kelly to discuss the problem and he quotes Kelly as saying, "You tried it and it didn't work. Cut your losses and go on to something else."

    "Without his advice, I might have struggled with the project, trying to make it work, and lost even more money," says James. The longevity and quality growth of Larry's Auto Supply are ample evidence that Larry James has not made too many mistakes in operating his business and, although he alludes to the worries of entrepreneurship, one senses that he would not have it any other way.

  — From Douglas County Bank, 1952-1992: Forty Years of Friendly Service by Marsha Henry Goff

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