Lawrence John Butterworth

Lawrence John Butterworth, age 75, of Spring Lake, MI passed away Friday, October 7, 2016 at Heartwood Lodge.  Larry was born October 16, 1940 to the late Herbert and Cora (Wiarda) of Grand Rapids.  He married Barbara Terry on December 16, 1967 in Kalamazoo. After graduation from Caledonia High School Larry attended Calvin College and upon graduation was employed as Head of Chemistry for Borgess Hospital. The family moved to Grand Haven when Larry was hired as Chief Medical Technologist for the laboratory at Mercy Hospital, Muskegon. Larry later worked for Beckman Instruments as a sales representative, Regional Sales Manager, and as Director of Marketing in Western Michigan, Schaumberg, IL and Brea, CA respectively. He had a strong faith and passed it on to his family. Before joining First Presbyterian, Larry was a member of Second Reformed church of Grand Haven.  He was an actively involved member of each church, specifically as a singer and occasional soloist with their respective choirs and on their personnel committees. Larry loved playing golf, fantasy football and playing cards with the 'Garden Club'.  Larry never tired of watching Jeopardy and was formerly a contestant on Sale of the Century when living in CA. He was an avid reader and continually added to his vast personal knowledge of facts and figures. Larry will be lovingly remembered by his wife Barbara; daughters, Elise (Bill) Leahy and their children J.P and Charlie; Susan Butterworth and her son Alec; Ashley (Rob) Crawley and their daughters Emory, Hadley and Piper; brother Tom (Ruthanne) Butterworth.  A memorial service for Larry will be held at 11:00 am Saturday, October 29, 2016 at First Presbyterian Church.  Relatives and friends may meet with the family 6:00-8:00pm Friday, October 28, 2016 at the Klaassen Family Funeral Home.  Memorial contributions may be made to AutismSpeaks.org.  Please visit www.klaassenfuneralhome.com to sign Larry's online guest book.