Larry Kent Williams was born on June 18, 1938, in Wichita, Kansas. He died on June 24, 2026, in Halstead, Kansas.
Larry, son of Margaret Jacques and Charles Aral Williams, grew up in Bentley, Kansas. Larry’s only sibling was Jack Alden Williams, 12 years his senior. Larry and Jack graduated from Bentley High School, which has since joined with Halstead Unified School District.
Larry played sports at Bentley High School where the class of 1956 enjoyed very successful seasons in basketball and six-man football. Larry then attended Kansas State University. He was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity and graduated in 1960 with a Bachelor of Science in Business.
Upon graduation from K-State, Larry began his lifetime career with The Halstead Bank in June of 1960.
Larry and Carolyn Ann Basore were married at the Halstead United Methodist Church on Dec. 22, 1962. They established their home in Halstead. Their four children all attended Halstead schools, with three of the four continuing to live in the Halstead area.
Larry plunged into serving the banking needs of the Halstead/Bentley communities. As many small-town Kansas bankers do, he served on the school board, held offices in the Lions Club and the Masonic Lodge, and served on local and state economic development committees and boards. Twice, he was appointed to the Kansas State Banking Board, which monitors the function of banks chartered by the state. He was elected President of the Kansas Bankers Association. He was privileged to be one of two Kansas bankers under the auspices of the Volunteer Services Administration to be sent to Bosnia shortly after the fall of communism there. He taught local bankers about banking in a free market society. He also traveled to Cuba with the Kansas Secretary of State on a wheat marketing team. He traveled to Washington, D.C., to represent Kansas and Kansas banking more than 50 times over the course of his career. Locally, he was heavily involved in the Hertzler Clinic and Halstead Hospital organizations.
Larry’s love of travel was genetic, as his father was a seasoned traveler. Together with his brother, Jack, the three men traveled to every continent. After the death of Larry’s father, he and Jack continued to travel together to more exotic places like Antarctica, Iceland and Greenland. Larry particularly enjoyed train travel. In 2008, he went around the world on a train, starting and ending in Newton, Kansas. He boarded the Southwest Chief and traveled west to California, flew to Vladivostok, Russia (via Korea), and then rode the train across all of Russia. He celebrated his 70th birthday in a yurt in Mongolia. The trip included stops in Moscow, Belgium, France and England, where Carolyn joined him. After flying back to New York, they boarded a train and returned to Newton, Kansas, to complete the circle.
Besides travel, Larry enjoyed watching his children and grandchildren participate in school activities and sports. He was a strong supporter of Kansas State University Wildcat athletics. He was inducted into the Halstead High School Athletic Hall of Fame. He was most proud of his children and grandchildren’s accomplishments, saying, “They all appear to be very good citizens, which should be the goal of any parent.”
Larry is survived by his wife, Carolyn of Halstead; son, John Charles (Randy Schmidt) of St. Petersburg, Florida; daughter, Anne (Tim Wright); and sons, Grant Taylor (Lori) and Alex Kent (Kristin), all of Halstead. He also leaves behind eight grandchildren, ranging in age from 14 to 31: Alyssa Anne Higgins (Tanner), Meg Christine Talbott, Joshua Kent Talbott, Mallory Blythe (Matt) Wiese, Daphne Elyse Williams, Tess Caroline Williams, Annie Margaret Williams and Lillian Faye Williams. He had two great-grandchildren, Margaret Anne and William Mylo Higgins. He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Jack.
