Funeral Service: Tuesday, August 21, 2007 at 2:00 pm at Stevenson & Sons Funeral Home in Miles City.
Interment: Eastern Montana State Veterans Cemetery with full military honors provided by VFW post #1579.
Milton Larry Lawrence Sayre, age 79, of Miles City, Montana passed away at the Holy Rosary Healthcare Center in Miles City on August 17, 2007.
Larry was born on March 30, 1928 in Leatart Falls, Ohio to Lee and Ruth (Reiber) Sayre, one of six children, five boys and one girl. He attended schools in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. At the age of 17 he left school and entered the United States Army-Air Force in February of 1945 being assigned first to Camp Attaberry to gunnery school, then to radio school in Indiana. With the flight crew he flew to Canada, Alaska, Aleutian Islands, Chitosey, Japan, Tokyo, Hawaii, Hamburg, Wiesbaughten, Germany, Sidney Australia, and Calcutta, India. He helped train crews for the Berlin airlift. He was honorably discharged in East Base (now Malstrom) in Great Falls in 1949, following which he joined the Great Falls Fire Department. He was one of two personnel selected to start the Fire Prevention Bureau.
October 12, 1953 he was joined in marriage to I. Beryl Tichenor fromOpheim. He had two sons and a daughter. He took the test and was assigned Assistant Fire Chief at the former Glasgow AFB in 1957, later being promoted to Deputy Chief and transferred to Minot AFB, N.D. Wishing to return to Montana, he resigned and returned to Glasgow to open his Sayre Fire Equipment business full time and traveled the highline for several years. He then served as Deputy Sheriff for Valley County and Juvenile Officer for several years. Following his divorce he moved to Miles City in 1973 and again pursued his fire equipment business full time serving all of eastern Montana, and enjoyed working part time as a Special Deputy for the Custer County Sheriffs office under Sheriff Bill Damm and then Tony Harbaugh.
On August 29, 1975 he was united in marriage to Rita Stevenson Larsen and gained a stepson to help raise and love more like his own. In 2000 Larry retired due to ill health. At a special ceremony in Glasgow in 2005 Larry was presented with his Veterans Honorary High School Diploma by Mayor Willie Zeller.
Larry was involved in several community organizations throughout the years and proudly received his 50 year pin from the Miles City B.P.O. Elks Lodge 537 in March of 2007. He was a 35 year member of the Masonic Lodge AF & AM and AlBedoo Shrine, Bugatti Patrol, currently was serving as Elks National Veterans Service Representative for Southeastern Montana.
Larry is survived by his wife of 32 years, Rita Sayre of Miles City, sons David (Sharon) Sayre of Great Falls, MT, Jeffery (Jaqueline) Sayre of Lewiston, Idaho; daughter, Leslie (Rob) Couture of Soldotna, AK and son; Tom (Sundi) Larsen Sayre of Laurel, MT, a brother Bernard Sayre of Weirton, WV, his step-mother; Icy May Sayre of Wellston, OH,, nine grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his parents, three brothers and one sister.
Visitation will be held on Monday, August 20, 2007 with the family to receive friends from 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm at Stevenson & Sons Funeral Home in Miles City followed by a Masonic Service at 6:30 p.m. at Stevenson & Sons Funeral Home. Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, August 21, 2007 at 2:00 pm at Stevenson & Sons Funeral Home in Miles City. Interment will follow in the Eastern Montana Veterans Cemetery with full military honors provided by VFW post #1579. Condolences may be sent to the family by visiting: www.stevensonandsons.com.
Should friends desire, memorials may be sent to the AlBedoo Shrine Temple, Shrine Hospital Transportation Fund or the charity of one's choice.
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