Larry Goehner

Larry Goehner was born in Wenatchee, WA on Dec. 14, 1944 because that is where the nearest hospital was from where his parents lived. His mom and dad, Otto and Lorene Goehner, actually had an orchard up the valley outside of a small town called Dryden. This is where Larry would grow up. He had a good childhood roaming the hills above the orchard in the summer and sledding down those same hills in the winter. Larry also worked side by side with his mom and dad from a young age doing all the jobs that need to be done to raise the fruit trees and take care of them in the hopes of a good harvest. From picking fruit and driving the tractor, Larry learned to have a can-do spirit and strong work ethic from his years on the farm that would be a part of his character for the rest of his life.

Although not very large in physical stature, Larry was still quite the athlete. His favorite sport was basketball and in High School he was the starting point guard on a varsity team that went deep into the state playoffs for two years in a row and came close to winning the championship in their division. He continued to play basketball for several more years at Cascade College in Portland Or after graduating high school. It was there he also earned a degree in psychology and a minor in music.

Once Larry obtained his BA, he attended grad school at an American Baptist seminary just outside of Los Angeles. While studying for his degree he had the opportunity to travel to Hawaii to work as a youth minister at a church there. His decision to take the job would change the direction of his life.

While working at the church he began directing the choir. A young woman named Joy caught his eye. The two began dating and not long after, they were married. The pastor Larry worked with did their wedding and the young couple become good friends with him and his wife. After three years in Hawaii the four of them moved back to California where Larry and Joy had their first child, Erik. Larry finished his master’s degree and he and his pastor friend began looking for land in Arizona to build their dream of starting a camp for inner city youth.

Along the way, however, they met a family with a son with developmental disabilities. In visiting with them they heard their concern about having a place for their adult son to live and work as he got older. Larry and his friend felt called to change their dream and start a non profit for developmentally disabled adults. Over the next three years Rainbow Acres became a working ranch serving these folks. Larry and Joy also had their second son Allen during this time.

Moving back to California, Larry and his family found Hill Avenue Grace Lutheran church where both boys were baptized. This began Larry and Joy’s involvement in the Lutheran Christian tradition which would continue throughout the rest of their lives.

After a year in Pasadena, Larry and Joy received a call to help start another ranch for developmentally disabled adults in Goldendale, Washington. It took a lot to start this new non-profit ministry and Larry was often on the road. But whenever he could, he would spend time playing sports with his boys and doing family activities like hiking in the summer and cross country skiing in the winter.

In 1986, Larry received a call to start a third non-profit ranch in Columbus Montana. The family packed up and moved once again. This ministry became known as Special K Ranch. Larry would spend the next 29 years building up the ranch and for most of this time, Joy was by his side in the office as they worked to expand the organization to serve more and more people with developmental disabilities. They were not always sure how they were going to pay bills to keep things going, but they stayed faithful to the mission and somehow God would provide.

In retirement, Larry enjoyed continuing to meet with his prayer group in Columbus and participating at St James Lutheran church where he often still led the choir and helped in a variety of leadership roles, even preaching on occasion. He worked on a history of the ranch and enjoyed playing tennis with friends when the weather was good. Larry and Joy also enjoyed taking a winter trip to a warmer climate once a year in addition to visiting their children and grand children in California and in Missoula.

Due to health issues, Larry and Joy moved to Missoula, MT to be closer to their son Allen’s family in 2023. They received care at the Village Senior Retirement home. They moved from assisted living to memory care as Joy’s Parkinson’s disease became worse along with Larry’s dementia. Five months after Joy died, on Oct. 31, 2025, Larry succumbed to complications from dementia. They had been married for 54 years.

Larry lived a life of faithful service to others as he sought to follow the way of Jesus as best he could. During a week -long stay at the hospital last May, Larry looked at almost everyone who came into the room and said the most important thing they needed to know was, “…that God loved them, and not just them but the whole world”. This is what Larry was about, wanting to share God’s love. He was one of those people of whom you could say with confidence that the world was a little bit better because he had been in it.

Larry is survived by his sister Twyla Steinberg of Coeur d’Alene ID, son Allen and wife Molly Sasser-Goehner, their children Luke and Leo, of Missoula MT and son Erik, his wife Desta and their children Maya, Dryden and Piper of Thousand Oaks, CA.

(Donations in memory of Larry can be made to Special K Ranch, P.O. Box 479 Columbus, MT 59019)