Lawrence Anderson Stone

Lawrence Anderson Stone, M.D., loyal husband, devoted father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, son, brother, and lifelong friend, left behind a huge family who loved him dearly, and found ultimate peace, on February 28, 2024. He was 90 years old.

Larry was born in the summer of 1933 in Robstown, Texas to Belo and Sarah (Sawyer) Stone. He was the baby of the family, and although his older brothers Belo Junior and Richard (Dick) didn't necessarily dote on him, theirs was a tight knit family full of love and adventure.

Three months after Larry was born, a beautiful girl named Marnette Butler was born in Robstown, and she grew up just across the street. By their early high school years, the two of them were an item, and that loving bond and mutual devotion would endure for the next seventy-five years, to the very end of Larry's life.

Larry chose Vanderbilt University for his undergraduate studies and walked on to the football team as a freshman. By his senior year he was the starting center, on full scholarship, and the captain of the team. And Marnette, of course, was the homecoming queen. Larry was a loyal Commodore to the very end, and among his lifelong friends were countless teammates and classmates from VU.

Larry was accepted to law school and medical school, and made the fateful choice to follow his father into medicine. He graduated from UT Southwestern medical school in Dallas, and began his career as a general physician and surgeon in Robstown, covering his father's practice while his Dad recuperated from a broken neck. Dr. Larry (as he was known) treated the entire community, delivered many babies, and was a trusted and devoted "small town doc" to countless patients around the gulf coast.

While in Robstown, Larry and Marnette welcomed their first child, Larry Junior. Larry Senior had ambitions too large for Robstown, though, and he decided to follow his true passion - psychiatry. That would take him and Marnette all over the country and ultimately to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he would complete his training at Harvard Medical School. Along the way they welcomed two daughters, Susan Marlarie (Marla) and Marilyn Sawyer.

Larry and Marnette and the kids would travel all over New England, snowshoeing in Maine, camping in the snow in New Hampshire, and fishing off Cape Cod. Larry found his true passion in child and adolescent psychiatry, and his brilliance in the field was recognized early. He became an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, and was tapped to help create the children's treatment center at the famed McLean Hospital in Belmont. The young Stone family would eventually live in a house on the grounds of the hospital, meeting famous patients on the walking trails and riding the family toboggan down snowy hills next to McLean.

Larry's professional accomplishments in Boston and the joys of family life in the Northeast were marked by tragedy, though, when Larry Junior died unexpectedly in 1963. He was 9 years old, and he left behind an extended, and bereft, family.

After a long period of mourning, the young family would find joy again when Paul (1966) and David (1969) were adopted. The girls suddenly had real babies to help care for, and the family was complete.

Larry and Marnette moved back to Texas, specifically to San Antonio, in 1972 so he could begin his private practice in child and adolescent psychiatry and in order to be closer to extended family throughout South Texas. This also made for much easier trips to the family ranch (the "Big Ranch") on the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, where Larry would teach his kids to ride horses, hunt and fish, and eat deep fried frog legs at Moderno's across the border in Piedras Negras.

During this time Larry was appointed Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, a post he was proud to hold for many years.

In 1976 Larry and Marnette found their own slice of heaven on the Medina River outside of Bandera, just about an hour from San Antonio. Around that time they would become grandparents, and the Bandera ranch (nicknamed Estrellita, the Little Star) would become the preferred gathering place for extended family reunions with first- and second-cousins, aunts, uncles and friends from all over the country. The memories formed there would truly last a lifetime.

Larry's professional career continued to advance during this period. He would hold important positions in the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (for whom he served as president), the Texas Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (for whom he also served as president), and many others. He helped to write the standards for children's psychiatric hospitals for the American Medical Association. He was also one of the first editors of the Handbook of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, a multi-volume collection whose later editions are still used in medical schools around the country. Larry played a pivotal role in national campaigns to protect children, including the push for mandatory state seat belt laws (which resulted in meetings with then-president Nixon), and for the movie rating system (G, PG, R) still used today. More locally he found much joy serving as a consultant for the HEB Foundation in Kerrville, and in working with staff for many summers at their Laity Lodge Youth Camps near Leakey.

In 1987 Larry was asked to interview for the position of Executive Medical Director at the new Laurel Ridge Hospital in San Antonio. After a national search, he was ultimately chosen over hundreds of other distinguished applicants, and his long tenure at the hospital would be marked by significant advances in the treatment of children and adolescents in the clinical setting.

Larry and Marnette would semi-retire to Bandera in 1995, where they would host extended family gatherings, float on the river, and make their annual sojourns with different groups of grandkids to Keystone in Colorado for winter skiing.

Larry loved few things more than hosting and entertaining with Marnette at the ranches, at holiday open houses on Brookhurst Street in San Antonio, and just about anywhere he could gather people together. He was a peerless story teller and raconteur, and his ever-present laugh was absolutely electric.

Larry and Marnette would eventually move to Austin to be closer to their kids and grandkids, and as Larry's health began to decline they would ultimately settle at Belmont Village Senior Living in Lakeway.

Although we miss him dearly, we are comforted to know that Dad has finally found relief from his many physical challenges. It also warms our hearts that he has been reunited with his son Larry Junior, his grandson-in-law Bryce, great-grandson Zayne, his brothers Belo and Dick, his beloved brother-in-law Roger Ross Butler, his in-laws Roger and Ione Butler, his favorite cousin Leonard Ray Speer, his parents Sarah and Belo Stone, and many other friends and family members.

Larry is survived by the love of his life, his devoted wife and lifelong partner Marnette Butler Stone. He also leaves behind Marla (Mark), Marilyn (Prescott), Paul (Alyson) and David (Mary); grandchildren David, Stephanie, Tiffany, Keith, Hannah, Megan, Sarah, Cade, Anna, Christi, Ryan and Luke (and many grandchildren-in-law); and seventeen great-grandchildren with number eighteen arriving soon. Larry is also survived by two sisters-in-law whom he was so found of, Francis Louise Butler and Audrey Stone, and countless nephews and nieces on both sides of the family.

Larry managed to outlive most of his friends, but he dearly loved those who do survive him. He was particularly grateful for the support and encouragement he received during his formative professional years by Virginia Anthony, the clinical director of the AACAP.

Larry and Marnette have both been so very fortunate to be treated with love, patience and great care by many of the PALs at Belmont Village in Lakeway.

The family will be celebrating Larry's life in the spring. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Alzheimer's Association (www.alzfdn.org), to the PAL Program at Belmont Village Lakeway (Clint Strickland, Belmont Village, 107 Bella Montagna Circle, Lakeway TX 78734, ATTN: Belmont Employee Holiday Fund), or to the Sarah Edmond Sawyer Stone, Belo Stone, M.D., and Larry Stone Jr. Scholarship fund at Vanderbilt University, which benefits premedical students from South Texas (www.vanderbilt.edu).

Larry didn't play any musical instrument, but he loved music more than just about anybody. One of his favorite artists, Roy Orbison, once said "People often ask me how would I like to be remembered and I answer that I would simply like to be remembered." Our father passed away secure in the knowledge that no one who met him will ever forget him, his joy for life, and his capacity for love.