Lawrence T. Stesiak

Lawrence “Larry” Stesiak entered the world on March 27, 1944, and sailed off into the sunset on the evening of August 17th, 2022 to meet up with his beloved Gwendolyn, who most likely, upon his excited arrival, complained about how he docked the boat in heaven’s marina. Larry Stesiak was a man who was tough as nails, yet could publicly, unashamedly cry at weddings, commercials, Stanley Cup playoffs, and the end of the movie, Miracle. A lover of smooth jazz music, hockey, boating, Dustbusters and Freddy Mercury songs, Larry was a man of many talents. He took it upon himself to become an amateur ham radio operator, welder, and YouTube connoisseur among many other things in his retirement years and thoroughly enjoyed teaching his grandchildren how to gamble and make golabki. Larry was a natural born tinker and would excitedly embark upon solving common household problems using available scrap materials, even though a solution could be easily purchased at The Home Depot. One of his many tinkering accomplishments was in welding a second set of handlebars onto his bike so that he didn’t have to hunch over, and proudly riding it around the neighborhood much to the embarrassment of his wife. Larry was a living contradiction. He was tough and soft, steadfast and flexible. He loved fiercely and could laugh at his stubborn nature. He thoroughly enjoyed his busy days and never turned down a good meal consisting of meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy. In his early years, Larry dabbled in raising chickens, lumber jacking in upper Michigan, and short order cooking among an assortment of odd jobs before finally landing in his career of nursing. Through the years working in the emergency room at Botsford Hospital, his actions saved countless lives, and he would beam with pride when he recounted the story of pulling children out of a burning vehicle in the parking lot of his nursing school. He loved being a nurse at a time when male nurses were rare (which contributed to meeting his wife, Gwendolyn, a fellow nurse in the ER) and he felt a tremendous sense of accomplishment in knowing that what he chose to do in his life positively impacted countless individuals. Larry is predeceased by his wife, Gwendolyn, his daughter Sandra, his brothers, Gerald and Daniel and his parents, Thaddeus (Ted) and Elizabeth Stesiak. He is survived by his children, Victor (Jennifer) Stesiak, Veronica Stesiak, Jason (Jean) Fletcher, Jamie (David) Marcott and Susan (Jeffery) Maurus as well as his grandchildren, Erika, Abigail, Jaelin, Jack, Jake, Maddie, Ryan, Gigi, Wilson, Alyssa, Juliet, Lillian, Gemma and Levi, his great grandchildren, Ryleigh and Reese as well as his siblings, Constance (Earl) Lemley, Robert (Mary) Stesiak, Joyce (Thomas) Troyer , James (Tracey) Stesiak and numerous nieces and nephews. It is quite certain that Larry has noticed a few typos in his obituary and has multiple suggestions for more succinct, ostentatiously attractive and impressive words, however, the writer of this obituary hopefully has a lot of years ahead of her before she meets up with him in heaven to hear the criticism. Larry departed this world in his own way and on his own terms. In his 78 years, he stayed true to his tagline at the end of all of his emails: “I refuse to tiptoe through life, only to arrive safely at death.” If only we could all be so lucky to live like Larry.