Larry Dodson

Larry Ernest Dodson of Masaryktown, Florida passed away on Friday, October 13, 2023, at the age of seventy-two (72) after an adventurous and joyful life.
Larry was the son of Elizabeth Bernetta "Betty" Mullen and Ernest Cicero Dodson of St. Petersburg, FL and the natural-born son of Robert W. "Bill" Boyd of Reno, NV and Estelle Spaneas of Lowell, MA.
A state-ranked Softball pitcher, Larry attended Northeast High School in St. Petersburg, FL where he was scouted as a potential player for the Pittsburgh Pirates. In the 1970s, he moved to Masaryktown after marrying Lydia Kovarcik and there he started his first business selling alarm systems door-to-door. In the 1980s, he developed and held the patent to a novel lightning surge protector and built his business, Kinematics, around it's manufacture and sale. The sophistication of the patent resulted in invitations to speak as a guest at MIT.
After beating lung cancer in 1999, Larry retired and took up playing softball again with WHACS. He wrote a book, "The Black Rose of Athens," and served as a board member on an impressive number of organizations. He volunteered as a youth football coach, he was the Athletic Booster Club President for NCTHS, and served as President of the Masaryktown Community Center where he organized the Masaryktown 90th Anniversary celebration in 2015.
He leaves behind his natural-father, Bill Boyd, wife Lydia Dodson of 50 years, his sister Barbara Kress and her husband Christian, many half siblings, cousin Robert Mullen, children; daughter Trisha Sweeney and her husband John, daughter Lauren Wipfield and her husband Clark, son Lane Dodson and grandchildren; granddaughter Taylor Guilford and her husband Brandon Babin, granddaughter Catherine Sweeney, and grandson Luke Wipfield.
He will be laid to rest in Masaryktown Cemetery where he served as undertaker in his final years. He will be missed."