Bio Legacy
Larry passed away at the grand age of 80 last week while on vacation in Hawaii with his family.
Larry Charles Kidwell was born in 1935 in South San Francisco to immigrant Italian parents. His mother Josephine and his grandmother Mary whom he called Nona, raised him practically themselves. He would spend teenage Summers traveling to Eureka, California to work on his uncle’s ranch and dairy farm which is where he gained an affinity for animal care. In his own words: “I was 13 years old when I decided to become a veterinarian. Our farm had regular veterinary visits so the veterinarians became my heroes. What a way to grow up – surrounded by cows, sheep, pigs & chickens – having my own quarter horse Smokey to herd cattle – and delivering calves, lambs and foals… so this profession is a DREAM COME TRUE.”
Larry would attend Catholic and then military school and was very popular due to his outgoing nature. He was academic but was also a star athlete in Track, Football, Baseball and Basketball. And beyond athletics, he was an avid jazz musician – accomplished on the trumpet, vibraphone, and piano. Jazz was a huge love of his throughout his life. He was friendly with another aspiring musician, a guy named Johnny Mathis. In Larry’s words: “I grew up with Johnny in San Francisco and both of us wanted to be jazz musicians. He turned out to be a crooner and the jazz clubs didn’t want that. They told him: ‘If you want to play jazz, you can’t work for us.’ I was playing in nightclubs and they’re smoke-filled with people drinking and using drugs, which was not me. And you know what? I just decided after a few years that I’m not really that good and I don’t really think I want to do this anymore.” Larry’s biggest jazz moment was a performance on national television with Horace Heidt. Afterwards Larry made a decision: “The practical thing, I thought, was to get an education; something you can sink your teeth into. And if music becomes something you can do, then fine. If it doesn’t, then go on. And I’m really glad I did that.”
The University of California, Davis is where Larry attended both undergraduate and graduate school in their highly regarded veterinary program. At Davis, he was a member of the track team, competing in the two-mile event (he stayed fit and athletic until the very end – even at 80 years old he would spend every Friday afternoon bicycle riding 16 miles between Venice and Playa del Rey). He earned a DVM degree in 1958 and worked a few months at a North Hollywood veterinary clinic – where notorious gangster Mickey Cohen was his client. One evening when Larry was at the hospital late by himself, there were loud, booming knocks at the door. Larry opened it to have 3 men enter, frantically search the place to make sure nobody else was there, then called in their boss… Mickey himself entered with his sick pet who was promptly fixed up by the good Doctor. He took a great liking to Larry and called him “Doc” whenever he’d see him again.
Next for Larry was his time in the military where he served for two years as a Captain in the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps. He was stationed in Philadelphia but had some uncertain moments during the Cuban missile crisis. He was told that he would be part of the first military contingent to be sent to Cuba and should that be necessary he was told to make a will and arrange for his belongings to be sent home. “I thought to myself, this is reality,” he recalled. The crisis was resolved without conflict or a need for his services.
With his time in the military completed, Larry returned to Los Angeles and worked as an associate veterinarian for a small hospital for a number of years. In 1965 he met Dr. Joseph Adams and joined into the partnership of Culver City Animal Hospital on Washington Blvd. just East of La Cienega. He and Dr. Adams shared the same philosophy – to have a family practice. Dr. Kidwell took on full ownership in the late 1970’s when Dr. Adams retired. The hospital has now served the Culver City community for 62 years. Culver City Animal Hospital is a local treasure where people remember coming with their parents and childhood pets… who nowadays bring in their own children to see Dr. Kidwell who they grew up with. He remained working at the hospital six days a week – still doing surgeries each Wednesday – until the time of his passing. “The nice part of it,” Larry had said, “it’s truly a family practice. I have employees who have been working here for 30 and 40 years, which is really great.” Since 1999, Dr. Dean Gebroe has been working as Larry’s business partner and will continue in the tradition of a family-style medical practice to treat dogs and cats. Larry remembers celebrity clients including Elvis Presley (who became a friend outside of the office), Michael Bay (who had beautiful Mastiffs), Halle Berry (always sweet and wonderful to Larry and the staff) and numerous others, but he said he just worked: “to serve the nice people of Culver City and West LA.”
Larry was proud of the fact that he helped finance the effort in the 1980’s to start pet insurance in the United States. He recently said that 10 or 15 percent of his clients carry insurance and he always pushed more clients to buy it. “If we have to send them to a specialist for surgery or oncology, costs start at $4,000 to $5,000 and get more expensive from there.” He was an advocate of the independently owned veterinary practice. He recently said, “as corporations take over more and more hospitals, family practices will become rare. Corporate practices are about the bottom line ‘Let’s do every test in the book. Let’s make sure we get the x-ray, the ultrasound and the blood tests, the urinalysis and so forth.’ This is so even when a dog or cat just has a broken toenail. Every time I see that I’m thinking that is what’s going to happen… and that’s sad.”
Beyond work, Larry was an incredibly dedicated golfer who was well known as a true “character” around the clubs and courses in L.A. and Palm Springs. The golf community included many of his close friends and he gained a love for the game because it was a sport he could play with his second wife, Sydney Kimel, who he loved very much and was married to for nearly 30 years until her passing in 2007. Travel, photography, following the Lakers, Dodgers, Raiders and Kings with his boys, and enjoying great food, films and music were his interests. He loved his dear girlfriend Barbara – who made the last four years incredibly happy for him – her children, his cherished veterinary hospital staff and his own family most of all. His many friends who are now hearing of his passing have been sharing their overwhelming love for a man who they say was larger than life and who stood out like a true beacon and will be greatly missed(Toni Doubleday 49063530)∼Obituary: Los Angeles Times, 4/19/2015
Larry passed away at the grand age of 80 last week while on vacation in Hawaii with his family.
Larry Charles Kidwell was born in 1935 in South San Francisco to immigrant Italian parents. His mother Josephine and his grandmother Mary whom he called Nona, raised him practically themselves. He would spend teenage Summers traveling to Eureka, California to work on his uncle’s ranch and dairy farm which is where he gained an affinity for animal care. In his own words: “I was 13 years old when I decided to become a veterinarian. Our farm had regular veterinary visits so the veterinarians became my heroes. What a way to grow up – surrounded by cows, sheep, pigs & chickens – having my own quarter horse Smokey to herd cattle – and delivering calves, lambs and foals… so this profession is a DREAM COME TRUE.”
Larry would attend Catholic and then military school and was very popular due to his outgoing nature. He was academic but was also a star athlete in Track, Football, Baseball and Basketball. And beyond athletics, he was an avid jazz musician – accomplished on the trumpet, vibraphone, and piano. Jazz was a huge love of his throughout his life. He was friendly with another aspiring musician, a guy named Johnny Mathis. In Larry’s words: “I grew up with Johnny in San Francisco and both of us wanted to be jazz musicians. He turned out to be a crooner and the jazz clubs didn’t want that. They told him: ‘If you want to play jazz, you can’t work for us.’ I was playing in nightclubs and they’re smoke-filled with people drinking and using drugs, which was not me. And you know what? I just decided after a few years that I’m not really that good and I don’t really think I want to do this anymore.” Larry’s biggest jazz moment was a performance on national television with Horace Heidt. Afterwards Larry made a decision: “The practical thing, I thought, was to get an education; something you can sink your teeth into. And if music becomes something you can do, then fine. If it doesn’t, then go on. And I’m really glad I did that.”
The University of California, Davis is where Larry attended both undergraduate and graduate school in their highly regarded veterinary program. At Davis, he was a member of the track team, competing in the two-mile event (he stayed fit and athletic until the very end – even at 80 years old he would spend every Friday afternoon bicycle riding 16 miles between Venice and Playa del Rey). He earned a DVM degree in 1958 and worked a few months at a North Hollywood veterinary clinic – where notorious gangster Mickey Cohen was his client. One evening when Larry was at the hospital late by himself, there were loud, booming knocks at the door. Larry opened it to have 3 men enter, frantically search the place to make sure nobody else was there, then called in their boss… Mickey himself entered with his sick pet who was promptly fixed up by the good Doctor. He took a great liking to Larry and called him “Doc” whenever he’d see him again.
Next for Larry was his time in the military where he served for two years as a Captain in the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps. He was stationed in Philadelphia but had some uncertain moments during the Cuban missile crisis. He was told that he would be part of the first military contingent to be sent to Cuba and should that be necessary he was told to make a will and arrange for his belongings to be sent home. “I thought to myself, this is reality,” he recalled. The crisis was resolved without conflict or a need for his services.
With his time in the military completed, Larry returned to Los Angeles and worked as an associate veterinarian for a small hospital for a number of years. In 1965 he met Dr. Joseph Adams and joined into the partnership of Culver City Animal Hospital on Washington Blvd. just East of La Cienega. He and Dr. Adams shared the same philosophy – to have a family practice. Dr. Kidwell took on full ownership in the late 1970’s when Dr. Adams retired. The hospital has now served the Culver City community for 62 years. Culver City Animal Hospital is a local treasure where people remember coming with their parents and childhood pets… who nowadays bring in their own children to see Dr. Kidwell who they grew up with. He remained working at the hospital six days a week – still doing surgeries each Wednesday – until the time of his passing. “The nice part of it,” Larry had said, “it’s truly a family practice. I have employees who have been working here for 30 and 40 years, which is really great.” Since 1999, Dr. Dean Gebroe has been working as Larry’s business partner and will continue in the tradition of a family-style medical practice to treat dogs and cats. Larry remembers celebrity clients including Elvis Presley (who became a friend outside of the office), Michael Bay (who had beautiful Mastiffs), Halle Berry (always sweet and wonderful to Larry and the staff) and numerous others, but he said he just worked: “to serve the nice people of Culver City and West LA.”
Larry was proud of the fact that he helped finance the effort in the 1980’s to start pet insurance in the United States. He recently said that 10 or 15 percent of his clients carry insurance and he always pushed more clients to buy it. “If we have to send them to a specialist for surgery or oncology, costs start at $4,000 to $5,000 and get more expensive from there.” He was an advocate of the independently owned veterinary practice. He recently said, “as corporations take over more and more hospitals, family practices will become rare. Corporate practices are about the bottom line ‘Let’s do every test in the book. Let’s make sure we get the x-ray, the ultrasound and the blood tests, the urinalysis and so forth.’ This is so even when a dog or cat just has a broken toenail. Every time I see that I’m thinking that is what’s going to happen… and that’s sad.”
Beyond work, Larry was an incredibly dedicated golfer who was well known as a true “character” around the clubs and courses in L.A. and Palm Springs. The golf community included many of his close friends and he gained a love for the game because it was a sport he could play with his second wife, Sydney Kimel, who he loved very much and was married to for nearly 30 years until her passing in 2007. Travel, photography, following the Lakers, Dodgers, Raiders and Kings with his boys, and enjoying great food, films and music were his interests. He loved his dear girlfriend Barbara – who made the last four years incredibly happy for him – her children, his cherished veterinary hospital staff and his own family most of all. His many friends who are now hearing of his passing have been sharing their overwhelming love for a man who they say was larger than life and who stood out like a true beacon and will be greatly missed(Toni Doubleday 49063530)∼Obituary: Los Angeles Times, 4/19/2015
Bio Legacy
Larry passed away at the grand age of 80 last week while on vacation in Hawaii with his family.
Larry Charles Kidwell was born in 1935 in South San Francisco to immigrant Italian parents. His mother Josephine and his grandmother Mary whom he called Nona, raised him practically themselves. He would spend teenage Summers traveling to Eureka, California to work on his uncle’s ranch and dairy farm which is where he gained an affinity for animal care. In his own words: “I was 13 years old when I decided to become a veterinarian. Our farm had regular veterinary visits so the veterinarians became my heroes. What a way to grow up – surrounded by cows, sheep, pigs & chickens – having my own quarter horse Smokey to herd cattle – and delivering calves, lambs and foals… so this profession is a DREAM COME TRUE.”
Larry would attend Catholic and then military school and was very popular due to his outgoing nature. He was academic but was also a star athlete in Track, Football, Baseball and Basketball. And beyond athletics, he was an avid jazz musician – accomplished on the trumpet, vibraphone, and piano. Jazz was a huge love of his throughout his life. He was friendly with another aspiring musician, a guy named Johnny Mathis. In Larry’s words: “I grew up with Johnny in San Francisco and both of us wanted to be jazz musicians. He turned out to be a crooner and the jazz clubs didn’t want that. They told him: ‘If you want to play jazz, you can’t work for us.’ I was playing in nightclubs and they’re smoke-filled with people drinking and using drugs, which was not me. And you know what? I just decided after a few years that I’m not really that good and I don’t really think I want to do this anymore.” Larry’s biggest jazz moment was a performance on national television with Horace Heidt. Afterwards Larry made a decision: “The practical thing, I thought, was to get an education; something you can sink your teeth into. And if music becomes something you can do, then fine. If it doesn’t, then go on. And I’m really glad I did that.”
The University of California, Davis is where Larry attended both undergraduate and graduate school in their highly regarded veterinary program. At Davis, he was a member of the track team, competing in the two-mile event (he stayed fit and athletic until the very end – even at 80 years old he would spend every Friday afternoon bicycle riding 16 miles between Venice and Playa del Rey). He earned a DVM degree in 1958 and worked a few months at a North Hollywood veterinary clinic – where notorious gangster Mickey Cohen was his client. One evening when Larry was at the hospital late by himself, there were loud, booming knocks at the door. Larry opened it to have 3 men enter, frantically search the place to make sure nobody else was there, then called in their boss… Mickey himself entered with his sick pet who was promptly fixed up by the good Doctor. He took a great liking to Larry and called him “Doc” whenever he’d see him again.
Next for Larry was his time in the military where he served for two years as a Captain in the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps. He was stationed in Philadelphia but had some uncertain moments during the Cuban missile crisis. He was told that he would be part of the first military contingent to be sent to Cuba and should that be necessary he was told to make a will and arrange for his belongings to be sent home. “I thought to myself, this is reality,” he recalled. The crisis was resolved without conflict or a need for his services.
With his time in the military completed, Larry returned to Los Angeles and worked as an associate veterinarian for a small hospital for a number of years. In 1965 he met Dr. Joseph Adams and joined into the partnership of Culver City Animal Hospital on Washington Blvd. just East of La Cienega. He and Dr. Adams shared the same philosophy – to have a family practice. Dr. Kidwell took on full ownership in the late 1970’s when Dr. Adams retired. The hospital has now served the Culver City community for 62 years. Culver City Animal Hospital is a local treasure where people remember coming with their parents and childhood pets… who nowadays bring in their own children to see Dr. Kidwell who they grew up with. He remained working at the hospital six days a week – still doing surgeries each Wednesday – until the time of his passing. “The nice part of it,” Larry had said, “it’s truly a family practice. I have employees who have been working here for 30 and 40 years, which is really great.” Since 1999, Dr. Dean Gebroe has been working as Larry’s business partner and will continue in the tradition of a family-style medical practice to treat dogs and cats. Larry remembers celebrity clients including Elvis Presley (who became a friend outside of the office), Michael Bay (who had beautiful Mastiffs), Halle Berry (always sweet and wonderful to Larry and the staff) and numerous others, but he said he just worked: “to serve the nice people of Culver City and West LA.”
Larry was proud of the fact that he helped finance the effort in the 1980’s to start pet insurance in the United States. He recently said that 10 or 15 percent of his clients carry insurance and he always pushed more clients to buy it. “If we have to send them to a specialist for surgery or oncology, costs start at $4,000 to $5,000 and get more expensive from there.” He was an advocate of the independently owned veterinary practice. He recently said, “as corporations take over more and more hospitals, family practices will become rare. Corporate practices are about the bottom line ‘Let’s do every test in the book. Let’s make sure we get the x-ray, the ultrasound and the blood tests, the urinalysis and so forth.’ This is so even when a dog or cat just has a broken toenail. Every time I see that I’m thinking that is what’s going to happen… and that’s sad.”
Beyond work, Larry was an incredibly dedicated golfer who was well known as a true “character” around the clubs and courses in L.A. and Palm Springs. The golf community included many of his close friends and he gained a love for the game because it was a sport he could play with his second wife, Sydney Kimel, who he loved very much and was married to for nearly 30 years until her passing in 2007. Travel, photography, following the Lakers, Dodgers, Raiders and Kings with his boys, and enjoying great food, films and music were his interests. He loved his dear girlfriend Barbara – who made the last four years incredibly happy for him – her children, his cherished veterinary hospital staff and his own family most of all. His many friends who are now hearing of his passing have been sharing their overwhelming love for a man who they say was larger than life and who stood out like a true beacon and will be greatly missed(Toni Doubleday 49063530)∼Obituary: Los Angeles Times, 4/19/2015
Larry passed away at the grand age of 80 last week while on vacation in Hawaii with his family.
Larry Charles Kidwell was born in 1935 in South San Francisco to immigrant Italian parents. His mother Josephine and his grandmother Mary whom he called Nona, raised him practically themselves. He would spend teenage Summers traveling to Eureka, California to work on his uncle’s ranch and dairy farm which is where he gained an affinity for animal care. In his own words: “I was 13 years old when I decided to become a veterinarian. Our farm had regular veterinary visits so the veterinarians became my heroes. What a way to grow up – surrounded by cows, sheep, pigs & chickens – having my own quarter horse Smokey to herd cattle – and delivering calves, lambs and foals… so this profession is a DREAM COME TRUE.”
Larry would attend Catholic and then military school and was very popular due to his outgoing nature. He was academic but was also a star athlete in Track, Football, Baseball and Basketball. And beyond athletics, he was an avid jazz musician – accomplished on the trumpet, vibraphone, and piano. Jazz was a huge love of his throughout his life. He was friendly with another aspiring musician, a guy named Johnny Mathis. In Larry’s words: “I grew up with Johnny in San Francisco and both of us wanted to be jazz musicians. He turned out to be a crooner and the jazz clubs didn’t want that. They told him: ‘If you want to play jazz, you can’t work for us.’ I was playing in nightclubs and they’re smoke-filled with people drinking and using drugs, which was not me. And you know what? I just decided after a few years that I’m not really that good and I don’t really think I want to do this anymore.” Larry’s biggest jazz moment was a performance on national television with Horace Heidt. Afterwards Larry made a decision: “The practical thing, I thought, was to get an education; something you can sink your teeth into. And if music becomes something you can do, then fine. If it doesn’t, then go on. And I’m really glad I did that.”
The University of California, Davis is where Larry attended both undergraduate and graduate school in their highly regarded veterinary program. At Davis, he was a member of the track team, competing in the two-mile event (he stayed fit and athletic until the very end – even at 80 years old he would spend every Friday afternoon bicycle riding 16 miles between Venice and Playa del Rey). He earned a DVM degree in 1958 and worked a few months at a North Hollywood veterinary clinic – where notorious gangster Mickey Cohen was his client. One evening when Larry was at the hospital late by himself, there were loud, booming knocks at the door. Larry opened it to have 3 men enter, frantically search the place to make sure nobody else was there, then called in their boss… Mickey himself entered with his sick pet who was promptly fixed up by the good Doctor. He took a great liking to Larry and called him “Doc” whenever he’d see him again.
Next for Larry was his time in the military where he served for two years as a Captain in the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps. He was stationed in Philadelphia but had some uncertain moments during the Cuban missile crisis. He was told that he would be part of the first military contingent to be sent to Cuba and should that be necessary he was told to make a will and arrange for his belongings to be sent home. “I thought to myself, this is reality,” he recalled. The crisis was resolved without conflict or a need for his services.
With his time in the military completed, Larry returned to Los Angeles and worked as an associate veterinarian for a small hospital for a number of years. In 1965 he met Dr. Joseph Adams and joined into the partnership of Culver City Animal Hospital on Washington Blvd. just East of La Cienega. He and Dr. Adams shared the same philosophy – to have a family practice. Dr. Kidwell took on full ownership in the late 1970’s when Dr. Adams retired. The hospital has now served the Culver City community for 62 years. Culver City Animal Hospital is a local treasure where people remember coming with their parents and childhood pets… who nowadays bring in their own children to see Dr. Kidwell who they grew up with. He remained working at the hospital six days a week – still doing surgeries each Wednesday – until the time of his passing. “The nice part of it,” Larry had said, “it’s truly a family practice. I have employees who have been working here for 30 and 40 years, which is really great.” Since 1999, Dr. Dean Gebroe has been working as Larry’s business partner and will continue in the tradition of a family-style medical practice to treat dogs and cats. Larry remembers celebrity clients including Elvis Presley (who became a friend outside of the office), Michael Bay (who had beautiful Mastiffs), Halle Berry (always sweet and wonderful to Larry and the staff) and numerous others, but he said he just worked: “to serve the nice people of Culver City and West LA.”
Larry was proud of the fact that he helped finance the effort in the 1980’s to start pet insurance in the United States. He recently said that 10 or 15 percent of his clients carry insurance and he always pushed more clients to buy it. “If we have to send them to a specialist for surgery or oncology, costs start at $4,000 to $5,000 and get more expensive from there.” He was an advocate of the independently owned veterinary practice. He recently said, “as corporations take over more and more hospitals, family practices will become rare. Corporate practices are about the bottom line ‘Let’s do every test in the book. Let’s make sure we get the x-ray, the ultrasound and the blood tests, the urinalysis and so forth.’ This is so even when a dog or cat just has a broken toenail. Every time I see that I’m thinking that is what’s going to happen… and that’s sad.”
Beyond work, Larry was an incredibly dedicated golfer who was well known as a true “character” around the clubs and courses in L.A. and Palm Springs. The golf community included many of his close friends and he gained a love for the game because it was a sport he could play with his second wife, Sydney Kimel, who he loved very much and was married to for nearly 30 years until her passing in 2007. Travel, photography, following the Lakers, Dodgers, Raiders and Kings with his boys, and enjoying great food, films and music were his interests. He loved his dear girlfriend Barbara – who made the last four years incredibly happy for him – her children, his cherished veterinary hospital staff and his own family most of all. His many friends who are now hearing of his passing have been sharing their overwhelming love for a man who they say was larger than life and who stood out like a true beacon and will be greatly missed(Toni Doubleday 49063530)∼Obituary: Los Angeles Times, 4/19/2015
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