Lars Joseph Urvina
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March 17, 1953 - May 10, 2017 U.S. Veteran
Burial Date: May 20, 2017 |
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Lars Joseph Urvina Sr. died in Olympia, WA on May 10th at the age of 64, surrounded by his family following a valiant battle with stomach cancer. Lars was born in Port Angeles, WA on March 17, 1953. He spent his childhood in Washington and California. He graduated from Pt. Loma High School in San Diego before enlisting in the US Army at age 18 where he served his country for five years during the Vietnam War era. Following his years of service, Lars returned to Olympia where he earned degrees from both Centralia College and Evergreen State College. He spent many years working for the Sears Company throughout the Puget Sound area and also spent a significant portion of his career with the Sherwin Williams Paint Company in both California and Washington State. For the last 15 years he served as a manager for Walgreens. While working at Walgreens, Lars became involved with the local Relay for Life and served on their Leadership Board. The cause to cure cancer took a very personal turn in 2016 when he himself was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Lars was happiest when surrounded by his family. He enjoyed summer trips to the Oregon Coast with his children and grandchildren and looked forward to any occasion that brought his large extended family together. He was an avid geocacher, known as “R-L-Painter” to the local geocaching community and was happiest on the trails in the outdoors. He made many friends and enjoyed countless hours outdoors while geocaching. His favorite caching partners included his children and grandchildren. Along with his friends and family, Lars happily led many marathon geocaching expeditions that lasted all day and all night and found him exploring all over the Pacific Northwest. He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Lynn Tolman Urvina and their five children- Valerie VanderHoeven and her husband Jeff, Lars “Joe” Urvina and his wife Adrienne, Keri Button and her husband Dave, Samuel Urvina and Tara Urvina. He is a proud grandfather to Sarah & Bradley Sykes, Joshua, Benjamin & Zachary VanderHoeven, Madilynn, Gavin & Annika Urvina, Kelsi, Andrew, Kayli & Adam Button, Ila-Ann Funke & Labyrinth Urvina. He leaves one great-grandchild, Maxwell Sykes as well as his siblings, his older sisters, Linda Houser and Lou Short and his younger brothers, David & Laurence Urvina. If you would like to donate to Relay for Life in Lars’s honor, follow the link: | |