Larry Pettit was born June 12, 1945 in Hastings, Nebraska, son of Forrest Ray Pettit and Frances Althea Sturtevant. He graduated from Hastings High School in 1963, and attended John F. Kennedy College in Wahoo, Nebraska from 1966 to 1969. Larry moved to Berkeley later in 1969. He was living in San Francisco in 1986 when he began attending the SF Meeting while the Meetinghouse was on Lake Street. Larry served multiple terms on the Peace & Social Concerns Committee, participated in the Livermore nuclear weapons labs protests with David Hartsough, he also served on the Hospitality & Community Committee, on the Welcoming Committee, and a three-year term on Ministry & Oversight Committee. Most recently, he served for a year on the oversight committee for David Breitzmann.
For many years Larry was active with the tenant’s group at the Civic Center Hotel where he had lived for many years. The landlord had tried to evict all the tenants from the Hotel but they fought back and won the right to stay in their homes. The tenants also received a cash settlement from the landlord.
Larry had been experiencing health concerns about his heart these past couple of years and he was pronounced dead on November 4, 2018 at the age of 73.
Larry was remembered by his niece Melissa Willits in her Facebook posting:
We received word late last night that my Uncle Larry Pettit passed away. Although he lived in San Francisco, he always had a special place in my heart. Larry was funny, warm, fiercely loyal to his beliefs and unapologetically himself. I was so proud of him for being brave enough to come out as a gay man when the world was not so accepting. He moved to San Fran and fell in love with the people and the city. He made the friends he had into family. I am most proud of him for being a "bleeding heart Liberal". He lived his beliefs. He fought for what he felt in his heart and would not back down and yet he did it in a quiet Larry-like way. I told him a few times how much I looked up to him and he always shrugged it off with an ole gee-whiz attitude. I will miss his posts and our private messages. Fly high Larry. You will be missed.
Larry was faithful in his attendance at Meeting and participated in many of the Meetings activities. He will be missed.