Larry J. Nowlin was born in Red Oak, Oklahoma on March 4, 1941.  Raised in Fanshawe in Leflore County, he was the youngest of nine children of George W. Nowlin and Bertha Askew Nowlin.  Larry passed from this life in his home on Grand Lake on April 29, 2019 at the age of 78. Larry was a retired banker and small businessman, father of three, and proud grandfather of five.

Larry followed his older brother to the Bay Area in California, eventually becoming a local union president.  In 1971, Larry began his banking career. He joined First National Bank & Trust in Enid in 1978 rising to become executive vice president, and later became president of a bank in Tahlequah.

Larry met the love of his life Ruth Gastel when both worked at the Bank of Commerce in Tulsa.  They married in her hometown of Lamar, Missouri. Always with an entrepreneurial spirit, the couple owned a flower shop in Tulsa and a tanning salon in Enid, before purchasing an industrial sales and service business in Stillwater which they moved to Tulsa in 1991.  Ruth predeceased him in April 2001.

Larry is survived by his sons Lee C. Nowlin and Bryan J. Nowlin, both of Tulsa, daughter Leslie Nowlin Zeegers of Sebring, Florida, and grandchildren Ali Zeegers, Garrett Zeegers, William Nowlin, Ross Nowlin, and Abigail Nowlin. He is survived by siblings Betting Pennington, John Nowlin, and Mary O'Brien.

A Funeral Mass will be held at Holy Family Cathedral at 10:00 am on Friday, May 3.

Fitzgerald Southwood Colonial Chapel, 918-291-3500.