Farewell to a Cherished Patriot: Larry O. Waters
Some may think it coincidence that God chose Columbus Day, October 12, on which to call Larry Orman Waters to his eternal reward. However, those who knew Larry would likely dub it characteristic serendipity that Providence would pick a date of such significance in American history. Larry Waters was, after all, one of his beloved country’s most dedicated sons.
Patriotism was in his blood. Family records reveal him to descend from Colonel William Waters, who became reputedly the first elected sheriff in America, in Northampton County, Colonial Virginia, in 1651. His third great-grandfather, William Aris Waters, served as a militia captain for his district in Tattnall County, Georgia, in the mid-1830s. And the Florida State Genealogical Society honors his great-great-grandfather, Emanuel Waters, as one of the state’s pioneers. Emanuel served in Florida’s 8th Regiment during the American Civil War and was injured in the 1864 Battle of the Wilderness. He spent the remainder of the conflict as a prisoner.
Larry’s forefathers passed their flame of patriotism down through the generations until it burst forth on a brisk day in Florida near the end of January 1933. Christopher Orman and Marion Martis (Knight) Waters welcomed their son into the world in the midst of the Great Depression, when President Herbert Hoover was preparing to vacate the White House and hand the reins to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
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