Lawrence B. Siddall

1930 - 2024

Lawrence B. Siddall

Amherst, MA - Lawrence B. Siddall of Amherst, formerly of Pelham, died on May 22, 2024 at home at the age of 93.

Larry was the son of the late A. Clair and Annette Siddall and stepson of the late Estelle Siddall Palmer. He was born in Canton (now Guangzhou), China in 1930 where his father had been a medical missionary. After his mother's death in China in 1932, his family returned to the United States and settled in Oberlin, Ohio. He attended the local schools and graduated from Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio, in 1948.

A 1952 graduate of Oberlin College, Larry earned an M.S.W. degree from the University of Connecticut and an Ed.D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

His career as a psychotherapist began in 1962 at the Holyoke Mental Health Clinic. From 1967 to1978 he was on the mental health staff of the University of Massachusetts Health Service. He then joined the staff at Amherst Medical Center, which became the Valley Health Plan (the area's first Health Maintenance Organization) and later associated with Kaiser Permanente, one of the nation's first HMOs. Larry was a member of several professional organizations and published a number of papers in professional journals. He retired in 1996.

Larry had a spirit of adventure and a love of travel that emerged early in his life when in 1956 he drove overland with a friend in a VW Beetle from Europe to India. His other major life adventure came following his retirement when he joined the Peace Corps and taught English in a high school in Poland from 1997 to1999. A common thread throughout these and other travels was photographing people he encountered along the way. Many of these color portraits have been exhibited locally.

In his retirement Larry took up writing. In 2008 he published a memoir about his Peace Corps experience and his trip to India titled Two Years in Poland and Other Stories (Pelham Springs Press). In addition to published articles on art history, travel, and American history, he also wrote about living with macular degeneration in his later years. In 2022 he published his first piece of fiction; a novel titled A Boston Love Story (Pelham Springs Press).

Larry was a U.S. Army veteran, serving from 1953 to 1955. His final year was spent in Munich, Germany, where he was attached to a Counter Intelligence Corps unit. He remained in Munich for a year following completion of his military service and studied art history at the university there. This began a life-long interest in art, and for eight years during his retirement he served as a volunteer and docent at the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum.

Larry is survived by two sons and their spouses, Howard Curtis and Doreen Siddall of Lisbon Falls, Maine, and Mark Siddall and Robin Gingras of Montague, Massachusetts; a daughter, Jennifer Siddall of Harpswell, Maine, and Amherst, and her two children, Parker and Caroline Jones. He is also survived by a younger sister Jane Siddall Battista, of Wellington, Ohio, and a brother James Siddall and his partner Debby Norris, also of Wellington. Two older brothers, A. Clair Siddall, Jr. and John Siddall pre-deceased him. Larry's former wife, Virginia Curtis Siddall, of Brunswick, Maine, died in 2009.

For many years Larry was an active member of the First Congregational Church in Amherst and was a long-time member of the Amherst Club. He also served for several years on the Amherst Public Arts Commission

A memorial service will be held at the First Congregational Church of Amherst on October 5, 2024. Burial will be at the convenience of the family at the Lee Cemetery in Mt. Blanchard, Ohio.

Memorial gifts may be made to the Siddall Endowed Scholarship Fund, Oberlin College, Development Office, 50 West Lorain St., Oberlin, Ohio 44074.