Larry Merwyn Ormston, 79, of Elgin, Iowa, passed away Sunday, August 2, 2026, at the Good Samaritan Society in West Union, Iowa. Larry was born December 7, 1946, to Merwyn “Ormie”and Harriet “Hattie” (Van Wert) Ormston in Waverly, Iowa. He graduated from Tripoli High School with the Class of 1965 and attended linotype school.
Larry was not afraid of work, and from the time he started working at the Elgin Echo Newspaper in 1966, he worked multiple jobs, including cleaning at the Elgin State Bank and the United Methodist Church in Elgin. He was also very meticulous about keeping the City of Elgin’s financial records. He was always very passionate about being an active member of the community, and everyone knew “Larry from the Echo”.
Larry’s life changed the summer of 1987 when he met his match at the Berry Bowl, a bowling alley in Strawberry Point. He met Nancy, and her 3 teenage daughters all at the same time and his life was forever changed. Larry became part of the family immediately and he did everything he could to care for and support his new family from that day forward. He married Nancy on June 24, 1993 in Muscatine, Iowa.
Larry enjoyed many things in his life. One of his most favorite was taking chances, he did this in the form of lottery tickets, scratch tickets, dog races and casinos. Unfortunately, he never hit
the big one. Larry adored his grandchildren. He played many games like Hand Stack ‘Em, I’ll Give You a Quarter If… and Quarter Toss into his shoes. Larry was always willing to taking
them or anyone else out for ice cream. Once a week he would tune the radio to polka music and would sit and eat his bran flakes with bananas.
Surviving Larry are his wife Nancy Ormston of Elgin, Iowa; daughters Mindy (Michael) Andrews of Macks Creek, Missouri, Tomi Martin of Avon, Indiana, and Jessica (Doug) Heckmann of
Urbana, Iowa: grandaughters Abigail (Ben) Buhmann, Miranda Andrews and Natalie Andrews; sister, Kay Ellis of Rexburg, Idaho; niece, Cheryl and nephew, Billy.
Larry was preceded in death by his parents, Merwyn and Harriet Ormston; and brother-in-law, Robert Ellis.
A Visitation will be held from 2:00pm to 5:00pm on Sunday, August 9, 2026 at Leonard-Grau Funeral Home and Cremation Service in Elgin, Iowa.
Leonard-Grau Funeral Home and Cremation Service of Elgin, Iowa is assisting the family with services