A Eulogy from Greg Artzner of Magpie

Larry Sifel's short life was a life well-lived.

I could stand up here and regale you for hours with my own stories of Larry, and most everyone of you could do the same, and I hope that we all will do that in the time before us, because that's one of the places where we are going to find our missing friend now, and the telling of those stories is what Larry would have wanted us to do.

Terry and I knew Larry for the second half of his life. I think I can say without doubt that alongside my partner Terry, Larry was my closest and most cherished friend. His death has left a huge void, but has also helped to focus my mind on his life, and what it was about him that made him such a unique person, cherished by all of us.

The way I see it, for Larry it was all about loving: loving family, friends, community, people, and music. Loving life. Loving his family was paramount. This only child returned in kind the love that was showered on him by his parents John & Irene, and, in his turn, shared that deep love with his own Jean and Ben. He also loved his extended family, his aunts & uncles and cousins. For us, becoming Larry's friend meant being brought into that circle of love. He adopted me like a brother and Terry like a sister and was excited about introducing us and connecting us to the rest of the family.

Larry was the truest, most loyal and most generous friend. If he loved you, it was for keeps. He was my sounding board, my confidant. Besides Terry, only he knew my deepest most intimate secrets, and I trusted him completely. If and whenever I needed him, he was always there to help in whatever way he could. I remember one of the last times we were together when I expressed some concerns about the economic vicissitudes of being a musician, Larry said to us "As long as I'm around you guys never worry about money." We never had to take him up on that, but just hearing him say it was more comforting than any money could have ever been. Larry loved his friends with a passion that I believe was deepened by loss and pain. The loss of his father at such a young age and the loss of his life-long friend Lee Novak were just two of many. I think suffering those and other losses caused Larry to resolve to make certain we all knew how much he loved us, and that he did.

Larry was a gregarious, big-hearted social animal who loved a good party. Bring the whole community together. The famous Sifel's Creek Festivals are just a few examples. That was where he met the treasure of his life, Jean Reynolds. That was also where he celebrated the community of music and friendship he helped to foster and build by working on all our instruments as repairman, custom inlay artist, and ultimately as a master luthier. I don't think Larry loved anything more than having all of us together around him playing the music he loved on the instruments he had made. He just basked in that light.

Larry's love for community went beyond his immediate ever-growing circle. Encouraged by his mother Irene and his father John, he believed in a progressive world view where the people would come together to end war, human degradation, and environmental devastation and build a new world based on egalitarian principles. He lived that belief in his life and in his work. He was a major fan of Phil Ochs and railed against war and right-wing politics. Knowing that many of us who play his instruments share his viewpoint and his passion, and use the instruments he made for us in the political-musical work we do, he often referred to himself as "arms dealer to the peace movement." He definitely left us too soon, because I know he was gleeful over the political demise of this right-wing administration, and he would want to be here with us celebrating if and when it finally comes down.

And didn't Larry love the music. He lived for the music. I believe that, aside from his family, probably the greatest joy in his life was playing and listening to music. And not content to just be a listener and a player (which he was on the guitar and the accordion), he wanted to be a part of other friends' music. He recorded some of us in his living room on his four-track tape recorder, and even worked in the studio, producing