On June 2, 1936, Charles "Larry" Deibert made his debut. He was the oldest of three children born to his parents in Longview, WA. At the age of five, Larry's family moved to a 30-acre farm in Hood River where he attended public schools. Larry was able to attend the new Wy'east High School his sophomore year and was always an athlete. He played football, basketball, and ran track. Larry was named All-Conference in football and basketball for two years and Second Team All-State for football his senior year. Although he was offered athletic scholarships for college, his family was too poor to help pay for what the scholarships did not cover. After graduation, Larry followed in his father's footsteps and tried logging. That was not adventurous enough, so he then tried working on a tugboat for Inland Navigation. During this time he met Beverly Jean Leitheiser from Dodson at a community dance. They dated and fell in love, later getting married in Stevenson. Larry decided to join the Marines. He was originally planning to join the Army, but the recruiter was at lunch, so the Marine recruiter convinced him the Marines were the best choice! Larry enlisted for two years and during this time Beverly gave birth to twins Cary Charles and Larry William. Son Kim Joseph arrived just 10 months later! Larry came home with his family to Hood River after two years in the Marines and his friends convinced him to switch to the Army National Guard since everyone knew him. After four months, an old shop teacher convinced him to go to Officer Candidate School, located in Oregon City. Out of a class of 42, Larry was one of 10 that graduated. Larry also was trained and educated by the U.S. Army to fly planes, helicopters and survive in the jungle. Larry volunteered to go to Vietnam for a year and it was life-changing. He won numerous awards for his bravery and acts of courage. When he returned home he spent six weeks with his family, then began work as an insurance salesman. That was not a good fit so he took a job with L.M. Berry Co. selling ads for the Yellow Pages. Larry loved to both hunt and fish, so he went often with sons Lou and Kim. Cary was not was not interested but did work with his dad selling Yellow Page ads. It was during this time with the company that his wife Beverly died of cancer. Two years after her death he began a business with his friend, Clark Jones. Together they sold ads for the Yellow Pages on their own. During this time, he fell in love with Diane who was a telephone sales gal with their company. They got married and Diane had one adopted daughter. Clark later retired and Larry bought him out. Things went well until the internet arrived! He had to shut down the business and sell off some of his real estate investments. During this time of grief, second wife Diane also died of cancer. She had chosen the home in Corbett for them to live in. Diane's sister was supportive and she and Larry ended up falling in love. Suzanne moved to Corbett and they eventually married in 1997. Suzanne is a Ph.D. and has two children. Larry's son Lou died in his early 50's. Today Larry and Suzanne share their love of Corbett, their adult children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and remodeling their beautiful Corbett home. Larry was appointed as a CASA (Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army-Oregon) and now is CASA Emeritus. They love to entertain and once had a party of 600 at their home! They also travel often, still work in real estate and donate their time to the Helping Hands Food Salvage Program in Corbett. Larry says that the military gave him the opportunity to be the leader that he always wanted to be and he has greatly enjoyed the journey!
