Larry Robertson, 91, of Grinnell, died on Wednesday, May 22, 2025, at the Mayflower Community Health Care Center in Grinnell and under the care of UnityPoint Grinnell Regional Hospice.

A funeral service will be held at 10:30 am, Wednesday, May 28, 2025 at the Grinnell Christian Church with his grandson, Pastor Devin Robertson officiating. Interment will be at Hazelwood Cemetery in Grinnell.

Visitation will begin at 1:00 pm on Tuesday, May 27, 2025 at the Smith Funeral Home in Grinnell and his family will receive friends from 5:00 pm until 7:00 pm.

Memorials may be designated to the Grinnell United Methodist Church to benefit the music program and mailed in care of the Smith Funeral Home and Crematory, PO Box 368, Grinnell, IA 50112. Memories and condolences may be shared with Larry's family online at www.smithfh.com.

Larry Earl Robertson was born at home in Muscatine, Iowa on November 22,1933, the son of Earl B. and Verla (Meaker Chapman) Robertson. He graduated from Muscatine High School in 1951.

Larry was united in marriage to Ruth Buckley on August 31, 1952, the day before classes started at Westmar College where Larry later completed a B.A. in Music Education, with a certification to teach music at the secondary level. Larry and Ruth lived in Olin and Guthrie Center, where their two children, Connie Lynn and Scot Earl, were born. While they lived in Storm Lake, Larry earned an M.A. in Music Education at the University of South Dakota.

Larry's music directing career started at 16 in Muscatine when he directed a youth choir at the United Brothern Church, and he continued directing church choirs through 2011. In 1955, he began teaching in public schools in each of the towns where the family lived. The family moved to Grinnell in 1973 after Larry and Ruth purchased a motel here. When a job opened at the Grinnell Middle School, Larry started teaching music there. Not long after, he began directing the Grinnell United Methodist Choir. He was also an adjudicator for the Iowa All-State Music Festival, the president of the Northwest Iowa Choral Association, a judge of state high school music contests, and editor of the Iowa Choral Directors Newspaper. After retiring from teaching, Larry worked for Grinnell Mutual in the claims and underwriting departments.

For more than twenty years, Larry took great pleasure in doing lapidary work, cutting, grinding, and polishing stones from around the world. His finished jewelry was displayed at the Robertsons' motel and sold at the Flag Store in Brooklyn. He also enjoyed talking to Scout troops and elementary school classes about rocks and lapidary work, and he taught classes in both subjects at the Grinnell High School. Larry was a fisherman and particularly treasured his times fishing with his son in Ontario, Canada. With their children and then grandchildren, Larry and Ruth travelled widely and especially remembered Washington State and Washington D.C. The family loved to camp as they travelled, pitching tents in, among other places, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, and Big Sur.

He is survived his wife of 72 years, Ruth Robertson of Grinnell; his daughter, Connie Robertson of Laurel, IA; his son, Scot Robertson of Grinnell; his grandchildren, Shawn O'Connor, Bethany Grieger, and Devin Robertson; and his six great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, and his sister, Patsy.