Big Stone Gap, Va.-Our precious Little Brother, Larry Ray Rasnick, born August 7,1948, received his healing on Thursday, March 9, 2023, at his home.
Larry served his Heavenly Father in many ways during his 74 years of life. He Volunteered to work for the Rescue Squad in 1968. He continued his volunteer work for 25 years and accepted the role of Treasurer, also Secretary and Sergeant. After a quarter of a century with them he accepted the role of Captain and continued his service. Later he accepted the role of President of the Board of Directors and continued this role until his Father called him home. God was always uppermost in all he did. Many times, were spent praying in the ambulance for patients and Larry got to see God answer prayers first hand. He joked with me and said, as he was praying, for healing as the ambulance sped along, he was praying and seeing how fast God could run. He had such a wonderful sense of humor, but so very serious about glorifying God. He never took credit for anything. He always wanted you to know that it was God, not him. The joy he had serving his Father was always present.
He also served as Coach for the Big Stone Baseball League for 15 years and then as Umpire for 15 years. He loved working with these children and he loved telling them and showing them God's Love. He had prayer before every game and also when the games were over they had prayer. It was so important to him to teach them about God and always giving God all the glory.
On June 2, 2013 he became an Ordained Minister with Preacher Bud Kilbourne as his mentor at the Cornerstone House of Prayer. Larry is a member of the church and he loved the church so much and Preacher Bud and Sue and all his brothers and sisters in Christ. Of all the things that Larry accomplished in his life, this gave him more joy and more peace than anything else possibly could. , it was what he had done all his life "Served his Heavenly Father" but now he could dedicate himself completely to teaching God's love and serving Him. Larry loved singing God's praises and sang often in Church. His singing was filled with God's Holy Spirit. He also loved teaching God's words. He lived as God would have him live. He loved, he sang and he taught God's love. He wanted everyone to know God personally and experience His love and know that they would join him one day in Heaven.
Larry was employed by Norfolk Southern Railroad for more than 30 years and retired as a Dispatcher in Bluefield, West Virginia. He never let God take a back seat. He
glorified God in all he did.
He also taught classes at Mountain Empire Community College from 1973 to 2015. He taught EMT, CPR and First Aid but he always taught them about God. No matter what he did or where he worked God always came first.
You wonder how he found time to do all the volunteer work and still hold a full-time job, but he did with the Grace of God.
When he was diagnosed with stage IV prostate cancer he accepted this burden with
such Faith and Courage and grace. He told me that if God gave him this burden to
bear in order to witness and glorify Him then he would gladly accept this burden and
he certainly did that. His love of God brought him so many things.
Larry loved being a husband, a father and a grandfather. He loved them all so much. He was proud of all they have accomplished, but he was most proud that they have a personal relationship with God. He talked about them so much and he would always say "I am Greatly Blessed".
Those of you who know Larry, could always see his love of God and he never missed an opportunity to tell them about God. He has accomplished so many things in life and I
couldn’t be prouder of who he is and I am so proud to call him my brother. He is
our Little Brother and there has always been so much love between us and God always
in the middle. He never let me down in any way. He has always been there, no matter
what. We talked every day and there wasn't a time that we didn't talk about God.
We laughed often, sometimes we cried, but we had such wonderful moments
talking about and praising our Heavenly Father. How blessed I am to have had him as my little brother. I love him so very much and I will always miss him until I see him again. We have God's promise that we will meet again and Larry and I have always stood on his promises. He will be in my heart until I can see him and hug him so very tightly again and then we can love and praise God forever. I love you Little Brother and I won't say Goodbye I will just say I will see you in a while. It will be such a wonderful Homecoming when we meet again.
Those who preceded him in death are his mom and dad, Ray and Delma Rasnick;
his brother Ronald Rasnick, and also his grandparents, Cleve and Glenna Sturgill and
many aunts and uncles.
Those that he leaves behind are his wife of 50 years, Linda Ranick; his sons, Alvin and Bill Rasnick
and his grandchildren Alex, Saylor, Makenna and Braylee. He also leaves his brothers,
Joe Rasnick, Carl Rasnick and his sister, Mary Gallagher and many nieces and nephews.
There will not be a Funeral Service because Cremation has been accepted but we will have
a Celebration of Life for Larry on Sunday, March 12, 2023 at 2:00pm at Gilliam Funeral Home with Rev. Bud Kilbourne officiating. A time to remember all the good times we had with Larry and how much our lives have been touched because of him.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Big Stone Gap Rescue Squad, 351 Shawnee Ave., E., Big Stone Gap, VA 24219 or to the Cornerstone House of Prayer, 103 E. 27th St., S., Big Stone Gap, VA 24219.
Gilliam Funeral Home and Crematory is honored to serve the Rasnick family.