Obituary of Lawrence F. Halbert

Lawrence Frederick Bunker Halbert passed at home on April 1, 2020. He was predeceased by his Wife of 61 years Helen E. Cribbs Halbert. Also predeceased by his brothers Truair E, Richard, Gerald, & Bernie Halbert, Sisters Francis, Doris, June He is survived by his children Lawrence M Halbert, Fiancé Helen Martin, Jeff & Patty Halbert, Theresa "Daddy's Little Angel" and wonderful Halbert friend Alex, Joe & Sally Halbert. Grandchildren Tommy Halbert (Fiancé Mary Kelly), Jason Halbert (fiancé Stephanie Emerson), Jeffrey Halbert (wife Nadine), Sara Halbert (Ryan) & Anthony Halbert; Emmaleigh & Elisabeth Halbert, Katie, Michael and Kristine Denimarck. Great Grandchildren Hannah Halbert, Paisley Halbert, Madison Halbert, Harper MacPherson, Madison Stimpson, Cameron Stimpson and Solara Spinella. Several nieces and nephews, Cindy & Jeri Lee, Rick Halbert, Colin Kelly, Debbie Yamanoco, Fred, Bruce & Linda MacDonald, Wayne & Diane Marble; Ron & Ann Marble; Dawn Marble Leizear, etc. In 1928 Lawrence Frederick Bunker Halbert was born on the Halbert Farm in Butternuts. His Dad Truair Sumner Halbert drove a team of horses to make a living. They then moved to Sidney on Halloween Day in 1931. The Halbert family, all eleven of them, lived in several places here in Sidney. The River Street apartments, above the Green Gardens for two years, and on 82 Main Street. Also lived for at least seven years on Cartwright Avenue and between Grand Street and Main Street. This was called the Mitchell House. He was extremely healthy most every year of his life. He rarely even had a cold. What was unusual about that is he rarely drank milk or water. He battled with COPD for the last several years. He handled COPD with such a fabulous attitude. He would often be woken, for whatever reason, with a smile on his face. He just loved life, his family and friends. Dad peddled milk, his first job, for Archie Spencer from 1939 to 1945. He worked on the section gang Delaware & Hudson railroad in 1945. They often hired young school boys as most of the men were off to war as this was during WWII. In the summer of 1948, he enlisted in the United States Navy. When the original Bunker went off to war it was the start of many Halbert veterans in the service. Well the original Bunker never made it back. It was the ultimate sacrifice for his country. This devastated my Grandparents. Dad entered the Navy in honor of Uncle Bunk. In the summer of 1948, he enlisted in the United States Navy. A worthy note is that he joined the Navy Active Reserves when he was a junior in High School. Also, in the summer of '48 he went to the Great Lakes Naval Training Station. He remembers once on a truck detail in Racine, WI seeing miles and miles of quantsut huts. After boot camp he was sent to Yeoman school which is a petty officer performing chiefly clerical duties in the U.S. Navy. He had business courses in high school so that is why he was sent to Yeoman school. He was then transferred to Orange, Texas for two and a half years. He was the drummer in a band of half civilians and half Navy. Then he was off to Naples Italy and his duty was in the Navy code room typing messages, some top secret. Then transferred to Frankfurt with the same duties. He was then sent to Brooklyn Naval Yard and discharged in 1953. In 1953 Dad went to work at Scintilla and mostly ran a turret lathe, which is a machine that makes engine parts with tools. He retired in 1991. Some of us were fortunate enough to see Dad work at Scintilla. The year was 1977. He was there for 38 years supporting his family that he obviously loved very much. He took great pride in the work he did, and it showed by the quality of parts he produced. There was one quite challenging supervisor there. I saw Dad and this guy get into this pretty heated discussion one day. I just sat back and watched them going at it toe to toe. I was so proud as Dad never backed down. I had not seen that side of him until then. He stuck to his beliefs. In 1955 he met Helen Elizabeth Cribbs. This would positively prove to change his life in a very positive and profound way. They were married in 1956 at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church. He was absolutely fascinated with his own last name and anyone that was related to the Halbert's. He loved hearing stories about what people had done in their lives, who they knew and where they were from. He started drumming at a very young age, so he was known as a drummer to many. He even sold drum sets for many years after he retired. Mom & Dad often went to see the "big band" sound anywhere it was playing. We often went to the Endicott, Binghamton area to hear a band, especially the Mason Warrington Band. Dad was known as the town historian and absolutely loved Sidney and telling the history of it. Sidney and the history of Sidney was one of Dad's passions. He would collect anything that said Sidney or had anything to do with Sidney. He also was a genealogy enthusiast and had lots of information and pictures of our relatives. The farm on Sand Hill was a place that gave us some very fond memories. My brother Joey lives not far from that glorious spot. In the early '60's he joined the Veterans of Foreign Wars Veterans Club. He was post 7914 commanders in 1969 to 1970. He was also active at the American Legion participating in the Sidney Post #183 drum and bugle corp., called the Royal Aires. He was also dedicated to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He was a lifetime member of the VFW. He served in the US Navy. Three brothers, Dad, Jerry & Bernie were in the Navy all at the same time. Dad also had a brother the original "Bunk"- "Big Bunk" that was killed in 1943. Back in the '60's & '70's Dad hosted at the VFW the Sidney wrestling team dinners. He was once recognized by the Rotary Club as a "Citizen of the Year". He didn't even bother to tell his family. We read it in the paper after he received the award. He was a very modest man. Dad also loved to play cards. The game pitch was his recreational passion. He loved high school sports, mostly wrestling, track & field and football. He loved collecting junk, well other men's treasures. I do believe these garage sales that he had was not to sell stuff but to talk and interact with the people. He loved talking to people. Where did you go to high school and then he would be off on a topic with the person? In 1997 he took up running. This really had a profound positive impact in his life. He started running for exercise and in the summers would travel almost every weekend to a running race in the area. The entire family once ran a race together called the Rotary sponsored Foxtrot here in Sidney. He kept very busy after retirement, president of the Sidney Historical Society, volunteering at Next to New in 2001, ushering at the Catholic Church and wheeling and dealing antiques drum sets and musical instruments. He was honored to be given the "Good Citizens Award" in 2005. But in closing Dad just loved his family. I will quote him, he would always say "How blessed am I to have such great and gifted children". He had a special relationship with all the individual children starting with Jeff the computer whiz that could fix anything, Theresa the CPA and Joe the teacher. Of course, we lost our brother Stevie back in 1994. Dad thought Steve was the most gifted of all of us. Father Gordon was just wonderful for the Halbert family at the time of Stevie's death. Dad was the last of nine children. Again, Dad was a treasure……. He loved people and especially the people in his family. He truly was a special man. Funeral services will be held at a later date. Share condolences and memories with the family online at www.landersfh.com. Arrangements are under the direction of C.H. Landers Funeral Chapel, Sidney.