Lawrence Patrick Maucher

Lawrence Patrick Maucher, born in Wilmington, DE on June 26, 1938, passed away in Salem, OR on July 23, 2023 via an Irish exit when his children weren’t looking. He was the son of the late Beatrice (Russell) Maucher and Lawrence A. Maucher. In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by his younger sisters Karen Oswald and Marcia Cloud, and his wife of nearly 45 years, Mary Jo (Duffy) Maucher. His sisters are gleefully cheating at heavenly card games and having him peel their oranges in retribution for years of elder brother torture in this world, and his much-adored wife, whom he alternately called ‘MJ Wonderful’ and “Hibernian Wench,” is surely keeping him busy with an 18-year waiting list of things to do.

Larry, aka Evil Da Fiend, graduated from Salesianum School in 1956 and earned his electrical engineering degree from Villanova University. He served 4 years in the US Navy aboard the USS Bordelon, including during the Cuban Missile crisis, had a successful marketing career with IBM, Kyocera and finally his own company, FSI, Inc. He was active in St. John Neumann Parish in Reston, VA and enjoyed biking the C&O Canal trail, ending with chili dogs at the Vienna Inn. He was a tireless and loving caretaker for his wife during her long illness with lupus until her death in 2005. After Mom died, he moved to Salem, Oregon to be close to his grandchildren, who called him “Da” and appreciated his goofy sense of humor.

Larry excelled in merriment and mischief his entire life, even after dementia robbed him of his memories.  His gifts of rhyme and gab, with such hits as “go play in traffic” and ‘hit ‘em in the head, leave ‘em for dead”, leave a legacy of laughter to all who were lucky to have known him. He refused to pose seriously for any picture, and his Costco card photo caused them to stop everything and pass it around the store. It was that good, and we are sad that it is not in a format that is usable for this obituary. He would have liked that.

He is survived by his youngest sister Nancy Sheehan Kirk, daughters Kathleen “Wicked Witch of the West” Fish (Arthur) and Jennifer “Wicked Witch of the East” Fuquay (Jeff), grandchildren Charlotte Freauf (Daniel) and Aidan Fish, and great-grands Eleanor, Sebastian and Theodore, as well as many nieces and nephews and friends. We are grateful to the eternally patient care partners at Boone Ridge Memory Care, who went along with his demented doings, took his rhymes in stride and never ran out of “ice cream” (his literal last words).

A Funeral Mass will be held at St. Ann’s Catholic Church, Gilpin Avenue and N. Union Street, Wilmington on Saturday August 26 at 10:00AM. Interment will be held privately at Cathedral Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to Salesianum School, 1801 N. Broom Street, Wilmington, DE 19802 and/or walking straight into an elevator facing the back just to see who else does too.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Lawrence Patrick Maucher, please visit our floral store.