Lawrence "Larry" John Hobbs

May 9, 1946 - Sept. 27, 2024

If you’d been paying close attention to the early life of Lawrence “Larry” John Hobbs (May 9, 1946 - September 27, 2024), growing up and goofing off on the outskirts of Los Angeles, then it would come as no surprise that the second son to Sam and Arlene “Daisy” Hobbs, younger brother to Dave, and big brother to Marilyn and Jim, was born to shake things up. Rattle some cages. Question the norm. Dream of possibilities. Because Larry was a rebel. Right from the start. Larry’s is a tale of the unexpected. It’s not a fairytale, per se, although he does find his princess-bride in the end (more on that later), it’s more an epic adventure across seas, deserts, valleys and calderas. A hands-on manual for forging your own path, letting your moral compass be your guide, and preparing a spiritual clearing by any means – hands, feet or a machete – to find and honor your true self. While his story may have begun 78 years ago in the shadow of the San Gabriel Mountains, a rebellious boy who ditched Sunday school to explore the Santa Ana wind-whipped streets of Alhambra, his story traversed the world. It changed the world. From his trips to the Antarctic, stepping onto the barren shores of South Georgia Island, a half a million king penguins dotted as far as your eye could see, to the Arctic Circle, a photo showing this pacifist, rifle at the ready, to guard against the polar bear he was there to study (and only shot with a camera). Or from his college days on the rough-and-tumble, scraped-up rugby fields of UC Riverside, cruising around between classes in his 1956 Ford Victoria, to the sacred circles and ceremony of the wilderness rights of passage that he led as a guide and trainer with the School of Lost Borders, helping at-risk youth and U.S. veterans as a co-founder of both Veteran Rites and the 4-H Rites of Passage Program. Larry strongly believed that “...it is essential that we spend time alone (preferably in the wilderness) without the trappings of society: no food, no shelter, and no company. Solitude creates the possibility of emergent transformation.” It was this mindful balance, the duality of spirituality and his academic training (masters degrees in Marine Biology from UC Santa Cruz and Psychology from Antioch University) that helped him understand that nature and the outdoors were his greatest access to the Divine. He would always suggest, especially with his AA family who’d been his trusted support when he chose a life of sobriety 40 years ago, to “Go-Out-Doors” so they could be closer to G-O-D. “I had always wanted to somehow make a living in the natural world (as in camp out and get paid for it!),” so Go-Out-Doors he did. In Burma he researched the endangered Irrawaddy river dolphin. Off the shores of Hawaii he tagged schools of wild spinner dolphins, and in the San Ignacio lagoons of the Baja peninsula, he led researchers and tourists out in small pangas to pet a baby gray whale — its mother gently pushing the newborn to the surface, an eye the size of a tennis ball mindfully watching as you hung over the side of the boat to reach out and connect. The feel of their smooth wet skin, a shower of seawater spraying your face as it exhaled. The trust and magic of it all. A brush with the Divine, forever. He observed sacred rituals with headhunters in Papua New Guinea, smoked hookah and slept in the squares of Marrakech back in the heyday of the 1970’s, explored the nooks and crannies of fjords, bays, inlets and oceans around the globe, and with encyclopedic knowledge could tell you the name of practically every plant, animal, and even the source of some mysterious scat left near a trail while hiking. And through all of these adventures, he most loved “helping people discover new ways of experiencing their relationship to the natural world,” encouraging and inviting friends and family to join him whenever they could. Of all his companions, his dearest, of course, was Danielle Williams, his beloved daughter and the mother of his wonderful grandchildren, Marley and Kai. He delighted in showing them, and all of us, how truly diverse and precious this world is. That it’s our responsibility – our duty, really – to help protect it. Over the last few decades of his life Larry co-authored and published a number of scientific papers on the impact of overpopulation, global warming and systemic sustainability. Because he had spent countless winters in Antarctica and summers in the Arctic, personally witnessing and documenting the dramatic recession of the world’s most critical glaciers, he was a strong vocal advocate for change. Whether leading ecotours, hiking in the Cascades or meeting for a meal, he shared his knowledge in lectures and conversation – educating us all. (Admittedly, sometimes annoyingly so. IYKYK) In 2008, Larry received the Horace Mann Victories for Humanity Award to honor his work and commitment to sustainability “having educated over 15,000 adults and youth about the natural world and the people’s relationship with it.” A fitting and well-deserved honor for his life’s work. And yet, when asked by his high school alumni association if there was anything that he still hoped to accomplish, he wrote: “I sometimes feel like Ulysses when later in his life he put a set of oars over his shoulder and walked inland until someone asked him what those funny shaped sticks were over his shoulder. He then set down roots after a life of adventure at sea. I would like to set down roots with someone compatible before I kick the bucket.” And so he did. In the last chapter of Larry’s epic and extraordinary story, he found love. A true and lasting love with an angel on earth, Susan Hatfield-Hobbs. Because, after all, isn’t that how all great stories should end? _________ Larry is survived by Susan, Danielle, Marley and Kai, his brothers, Dave and Jim, his sister Marilyn, his sisters-through-marriage, Gwen, Susan, and Alex, a gaggle of nieces and nephews (Michele, Caitlyn, Bronwyn, Cara, Tristan, Sam M., Henry and Sam J.) along with their spouses and children, a world of seekers and travelers from both his ecotour work and the vision fasters he guided in the wilderness, his men’s group members, his AA family, and his vast network of friends and colleagues around the world, near and far. A Ceremony of Life will take place on November 3, 2024 at the Ballard Elks Lodge at 1pm PT. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to one of these three organizations that Larry was passionate about: - Veteran Rites (https://www.veteranrites.org) - Population Balance (https://www.populationbalance.org/) - The Gretchen Weller Foundation (https://gretchenwellerfoundation.com)