Obituary: Larry M. Donovan

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Larry M.Donovan

By Ron Hayes

    OCEAN RIDGE — When she only four or five, Teri Donovan’s father would take her to the Drake Hotel in Oak Brook, Ill.
    “They always had a big band,” she remembers, “and we would get them to play ‘Moon River,’ my favorite song, and I’d stand on his feet and we’d dance... Now the biggest and best part of my childhood is gone.”
    Larry M. Donovan, a farm boy from western Michigan who fell in love with ballrooms, died May 25 at his home in The Tamarind, where he had served on the board of directors. He was 83 and battled Parkinson’s disease, but kept on dancing almost to the end.
    “On St. Patrick’s Day we went to The Little Club,” recalled his widow, Janet. “He was using a wheelchair then, but he was up on the floor, up on his feet, dancing.”
    On the Saturday night before his death, Mr. Donovan attended “The Songs of Barry Manilow,” a revue at The Plaza Theatre in Manalapan.
    “We had to tell him to be quiet because he was singing along with the cast,” his wife said.
    He spent all day Sunday at St. Mark Catholic Church in Boynton Beach, helping Father Richard Florek celebrate 40 years as a priest.
    Monday night he was at Taboo, having dinner with friends.
    “He was a very happy, loving man who really and truly enjoyed meeting people,” his wife said. “He’d have been out every night of the week if he could.”
    Mr. Donovan was born in Kalamazoo, Mich., on July 5, 1928, and grew up on the family farm in Lawrence. In high school, he earned varsity letters in football, baseball, basketball and track, and went on to graduate from the University of Notre Dame in 1950 with a degree in finance.
    In 1959, he opened Gala Lanes, a bowling alley in Kankakee, Ill., and later two more in Naperville and Carol Stream, as well as Pappy’s Pizza Parlors in Kalamazoo, East Lansing and Flint.
     Mr. Donovan moved to Ocean Ridge permanently in 1999 after wintering in the area, and joined both the Ocean Club and Little Club. He loved golf, the Chicago Bears, a Crown Royal with a splash of water and lots of ice and, of course, ballroom dancing.
    In addition to his widow, Janet O’Neill Donovan and daughter, Teri Donovan Springer of Richland, Mich., Mr. Donovan is survived by his stepdaughter, Kathryn Shaw of Chester, Nova Scotia; a bother, Richard Donovan of St. Claire Shores, Mich.; three grandsons and two granddaughters. He was predeceased by his first wife, Patricia Brand Donovan.

A Funeral Mass was celebrated May 29 at St. Mark Catholic Church in Boynton Beach.
    Donations may be made to Notre Dame University, The Parkinson’s Association or the Cheff Therapeutic Riding Center in Augusta, Mich.     

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