On January 20, 1949, a Fort Madison, IA mother gave birth to her third child. Her mother was caring for the other two kids, Monte and Linda, but found a new baby to be too much for her. She placed the baby in an orphanage where he stayed until he was adopted at 14 months by James (Jim) and Nelda Paustian. This is where Larry R. Paustian's story begins.

In 1955, Larry's sister, Mary, came along. Also adopted, she always seemed to break Larry's toys, but he never really played with them anyway. His favorite thing to do was to take them apart, learn how they worked and then figure out how to put them back together. He was a problem solver from the beginning.

In 1958, Larry's sister, Joyce, was born. At the advice of his mother, he continued to write "more than just his name" for her birthday every year. He was so proud when she visited in October and shared her new published book! His first passion was reading, keeping the Fondulac Library workers busy with his bi-weekly visits. When Larry was 11, his friend Ed and he got a printing press and printed flyers for odd jobs: mowing, shoveling, etc. They acquired more work than they could handle and from the ages of 11-16, the two friends worked odd jobs for the local neighbors.

On his 16th birthday, Larry started his job at the local filling station. This really promoted his profound love of cars. He always complained his Dad knew nothing about them; his sister Mary once told a neighbor "my dad doesn't know what to do with those tools; all he has is smarts." But Larry loved good body lines and the inner mechanics. He could tell you the year, make and model of a vehicle just by trim or hub cap, which he frequently did during movies! He could never just buy a car off the rack, either; he'd get it home and modify it to his idea of "perfection." One of the highlights of his life was getting to drive a Lamborghini around the WI State Fairgrounds arena!

In the Fall of 1967, Larry entered the architecture program at Iowa State University, going straight into the masters program after graduation. During his Junior year, Larry and his roommate, Jim, studied abroad in Europe for a quarter session. They spent their time touring historic and modern architecture in: Darmstadt, Rome, Venice, Milan, Stockholm, Helsinki, Paris and London. This instilled a desire to travel abroad more in his retirement, including trips to: Niagara Falls, Idaho, Hawaii, NYC, the Bahamas and Barcelona in June 2023.

In his mid-20s, Larry helped build a haunted house inside an old river boat. Now a lofty 6'3," he would wear his homemade head-to-toe Swamp Thing costume made from dyed car chamois. He'd tuck himself into a recessed wall and follow unsuspecting victims down the dark hallway. Larry held onto that costume and even donned it for Halloween 2022! He got such enjoyment out of scaring the older trick or treaters by hiding amongst the trees on his immensely long driveway.

The early 70s brought Larry to Peoria, IL to work for Bibo & Peacock, eventually moving on to work for Ray Becker and P.J. Hoerr. In 1973, Larry met Martha (Marty) Booth. Marty and her roommate were moving out of their apartment and Larry came to see it as an interested tenant. If he wanted to rent the apartment, he had her number; but he was interested in more than renting. On May 22, 1976, Larry and Marty were married in Armington, IL.

In 1984, Larry and Marty applied with DCFS to become adoptive parents. In early April 1985, they finally met their two week old daughter, Ashley. She had been born on the same date that Larry had been adopted in 1950! He was so pleased that Ashley never took to sports; he quite preferred attending all of her piano and violin recitals, theater productions and concerts. No matter how busy Larry may have been, he was at every single event. His motivation for Ashley to get a higher education was very prevalent; she went on to impress him with two bachelor's and a Masters, all within six years. He always said he never knew how she did it all.

In 2011, Ashley married her husband, Nick. Later that year, Larry wrote to his sister, "I really feel Nick is a son, so now we are a family of four." In 2017, Joseph made them a family of five and in 2021, Jesse made them a family of six. But Larry would also tell you he had three other grandkids--exchange students Ashley and Nick had hosted since 2016. David, Amira and Nora meant the world to him and he was so proud of all they had accomplished. His trip to Barcelona in 2023 included all five of his grandkids in the same place for the first time.

Larry was a local architect for over 40 years, owning and operating Larry R. Paustian, Architects PC for over 30 years. He designed multiple commercial buildings such as: Prairie Point, the social security building, Don's Music Land and the Par•a•Dice Casino. One of his former clients even stated, "you do realize he shaped the landscape of Peoria real estate?!"

After he retired, Larry and Marty took his very meticulous filing system and went out for Sunday drives to visit buildings he had designed over the years. They would take a picture of the building and then tag it on a private Google Map. When the map is opened, Peoria and surrounding areas completely disappear under the sea of dropped pins!

Near the end of his career, Larry took up a passion for cycling. In his prime, he was riding almost 20mi per day, eventually joining up with the Illinois Valley Wheelm'n. After his stroke, several members of the group encouraged him to get back on the road, inviting him to try a trike. He enjoyed many more years riding with the guys in the Trike Gang.

In October 2023, Larry was diagnosed with Stage IV terminal cancer and moved in with Ashley and Nick in Wisconsin to receive treatments at UW Carbone Cancer Center. Every health battle he faced, he fought with every ounce of his being. He returned to East Peoria in the New Year to enjoy his architectural masterpiece: his home.

In 2022, his son-in-law, Nick, had taken up a directorial position at a cancer research startup. In his final conversation with Nick, Larry said "Remember our talk. I know you're going to do it." When Ashley asked Nick what "it" was, he replied, "Cure Cancer." May we all be so lucky to one day see this world free of cancer.

On Saturday, February 10, 2024, at 10am a celebration of life service will be held followed by a visitation from 11am to 1pm at Deiters Funeral Home and Crematory in Washington, IL.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the East Peoria Public Library or Russell's Cycling in care of Operation Christmas Bike.