Larry was born and raised in a small rural town in Mississippi. He is the 8th of 14 children. Married to Vickie for 28 years with 2 adult children, 25 and 23. Two grandchildren both two and a half.

Larry has been employed by the Raleigh Fire Department for the past 27 years. His current position is Assistant Chief in charge of the training division since July 2, 2007. Larry was the Fire Marshal for 7 years prior to his current assignment.

Larry's education includes an associate degree in Fire Protection Technology from Durham Technical Institute, Durham, NC, a bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Wisconsin- Madison and an Executive Fire Officer certification from the National Fire academy, Emmitsburg, Md.

"As a firefighter", Larry says, "you always wonder what happens to a person after the initial rescue and they are turned over to the hospital staff. You have done your best to minimize the extent of injury and pain but you always wonder if the person survived, and if so, how are they getting along after the accident/injury. With the new privacy laws limiting the information transfer from the hospitals with the fire service concerning patient conditions, getting involved on the local level with the Jaycee Burn Center enabled me to help bridge the information gap between the hospital and the fire department."

What started as a way to follow up on burned patients in the local area turned into a labor of love as he realized that he had the energy, time and compassion to work as a part of an organization/s to help burn survivors slowly work their way back to healing, self confidence and an enjoyable life.

Larry was introduced to the Phoenix Society through his association with the Jaycee Burn Center which introduced me to the Burn Congress. This Congress in Vancouver will be my 5th.