Barb and I were honored to have been featured in the Northern Springs Living magazine in January.

We hope you enjoy meeting our family and learning a bit more about us and the path on which the Lord has led us these last 50 years of marriage. If you can’t view the photocopies of the article, the transcript is below the pictures.

 

 

NORTHERN SPRINGS LIVING — January 2024

MEET THE LARIMORES

SWEETHEARTS

Walt and Barb Larimore met at the University Methodist Church Kindergarten when they were just five years old. That developed into an adolescent romance which later culminated into a marriage. The church bells rang in Baton Rouge in their last year of college at Louisiana State University. That was 50 years ago.

The couple have a son and a daughter. Scott is an events director at the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University in Atlanta. He is married to Jennifer Fiedler Larimore, Ph.D., a neurobiologist and professor at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia. They are both runners (Jennifer has completed an IronMan triathlon) and have two beautiful daughters, three dogs, and two cats. They attend All Souls Presbyterian Church in Decatur.

Kate is married to Charles Robert Ritz, Jr, an IT expert currently working on his MBA.

Daughter Kate works at the Focus on the Family bookstore. But Kate’s life hasn’t been smooth, She had to overcome the challenge of living with cerebral palsy and has conquered other challenges as well. Having emerged heroically from that fight, she has treasured the opportunity to work as a White House intern for President George W. Bush and also is one of 50 national Horatio Alger Scholars.

Kate and her husband attend the International Anglican Church here in Colorado Springs and have two adorable cats,

The senior Larimores used to have a cat too: Jack, precious and most adorable, who crossed the rainbow bridge not too long ago. Barb’s voice conveys her sadness: “Our hearts still have a small, soft, warm, purring hole in them.”

Home sweet home

The children having grown up and moved, Walt and Barb became empty nesters, who decided to downsize and relocate to Colorado Springs. They shifted their base from Monument to build a house at The Farm in 2016 and have been living there for the past 7 years. Their time is spent between traveling, reading, gardening, walking, and for Barb, Jazzerciseing. They attend Academy Christian Church, often volunteering at the ReEngage Marriage Ministry at ACC.

They love watching a good game, their favorite teams being all of the LSU teams — Geaux Tigers! Their favorite sports to watch are football, baseball, women’s basketball, women’s gymnastics, and women’s softball. “I was a cheerleader while at LSU. Also, the Duke Blue Devils where I was a sports medicine doc and team physician for 3 years when Steve Spurrier and Mike Krzyzewski were starting their careers,” Walt smiles.

Sweet spots

The couple will often go hiking, hitting their favorite trails: Spruce Mountain, trails in the North Cheyenne Canyon Park, and trails in The Farm. “We love The Farm not only as a wonderful place to live and walk (the trails are very nice). We love the Garden of the Gods. What a wonderful gift that park is to our city. The sense of community is very strong here. On our street, many of our neighbors, weather permitting, are sitting on their front porches in conversation with each other. It’s unusual for us to pass a neighbor when out walking and not stopping to chat a bit.

“We all watch out for each other and each other’s homes. The plethora of community events, including frequent food, coffee, ice cream, and snow-cone trucks, the Library mobile van, and special groups, such as a Bourbon Club, Book Club, Potluck Dinner groups, social club meetings, and workout groups, all held at our Neighborhood Gathering Place and Pool are terrific. A shout-out to all of our buddies on Foothills Farm Way in The Farm. Love you guys,” Walt sounds happy and content.

Apart from being actively involved in the community, Walt and Barb will often go exploring new places and destinations. When the kids were growing up, they often went on an annual beach vacation to Pensacola Beach, Florida as Barb’s mom and dad had a second home there. ‘We did this for several decades. We told the kids, ‘We’re spending your inheritance on you while we’re all still alive,” Barb laughs.

Moreover, in honor of their 50th wedding anniversary, Barb and Walt planned five special trips: (1) a two-week road trip through Wyoming, (2)  a one-week trip to Stockholm with their son and his family, (3) a two-week river and train trip around Europe (Holland, Germany, Switzerland, and France) ending with an anniversary dinner at the Eiffel Tower, (4-5) then two trips to their home town of Baton Rouge.

“One is for the opening of an exhibit on my dad and his heroics at the LSU Military Museum, and for me to be featured at the Louisiana Book Festival, and the other is for the 50th reunion of our 1971-73 LSU Cheerleading squad. But after that, we’ll be able to stay home and rest up!” Walt confirms.

A rose by any other name

Walt and Barb moved to Monument in 2001, relocating from Kissimmee, Florida, where Walt had been serving as
a family physician and medical educator for 16 years and a part-time medical journalist for over a decade. He was also
hired to be a Vice President and Physician in Residence at Focus on the Family.

Walt has served 40 years as a family physician and delivered over 1,500 babies. He has been listed in Distinguished Physicians of America, The Best Doctors in America, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare, Who’s Who in Science and Engineering, International Health Professionals of the Year, and International Health Scientists of the Year.

In addition, Walt has also been listed in the Guide to America’s Top Family Doctors, America’s Registry of Outstanding Professionals, and The 2000 Intellectuals of the 21st Century.

Walt earned his B.S. degree from Louisiana State University in 1974 where he received the Freshman Honors Award,
a Centennial Honors Award, and the Arts and Sciences Outstanding Student Award. He was also inducted into Phi
Eta Sigma Honorary Society, Alpha Epsilon Delta National Premedical Honor Society, and Phi Kappa Phi National
Honor Society.

Walt’s M.D. degree is from Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans in 1977 with Alpha Omega Alpha National Medical Honor Society honors, and he was awarded a C.V. Mosby Scholastic Achievement Award as one of the top five graduates in his class.

Walt completed his Residency in Family Medicine at Duke University Medical Center in 1981, where he was awarded a Southern Medical Association Resident’s Study Award and was a Mead Johnson Awardee as one of the 12 “Most outstanding Family Practice Residents” in America. Walt then was awarded and completed a General Practice Teaching Fellowship at Queen’s Hospital in Nottingham, England in 1978.

Walt is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians (FAAFP), was Board Certified and re-certified (five times) by the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM), and was also awarded the Certificate of Added Qualification in Sports Medicine by the ABFM. Since 2017 he has been Board Certified in Family Medicine by the National Board of Physicians and Surgeons.

Sweetening the deal

Accolades apart, Walt’s, “magnum opus,” the result of 16 years of research and writing, is his multi-award-winning WWII book, At First Light: A True World War II Story of a Hero, His Bravery, and an Amazing Horse.

In this emotional, heartbreaking, and inspiring true story, the narrative traces Walt’s father’s tale of heroism during
his involvement in World War II. Growing up in the 1930s in Memphis, Tennessee, Phil Larimore is the ultimate Boy Scout.
He is good at reading maps, can put a compass to good use, and also traverses wild swamps and desolate canyons with
ease. His other great skill is riding horses.

Phil does poorly in school and is sent to a military academy in search of direction in his life. After Pearl Harbor, Phil
realizes he is destined for war. Three weeks before his eighteenth birthday, he became the youngest candidate to ever graduate from Officer Candidate School [OCS) at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Landing on the Anzio beachhead in February 1944, Phil is given the responsibility of heading an Ammunition Pioneer Platoon in the 3rd Infantry Division. The platoon has a difficult mission: to deliver ammunition to the frontline foxholes, a dangerous assignment involving regular forays into No Man’s Land.

As Phil fights his way up the Italian boot, into Southern France, and across the Rhine River into Germany, he is caught up in some of the most intense combat ever. But it’s what happens in the final stages of the war and his homecoming that makes Phil’s story incredibly special and heartwarming.

The book received a Silver Medal from the Military Writers Society of America, is a 2023 Finalist for the International
Page Turner Book Award, and was a featured book at the National WWII Museum in New Orleans and the Louisiana
Book Festival.

“As a result of the book, on August 1, my father was posthumously inducted into the 3rd Infantry Division’s Marne
Hall of Fame at Fort Stewart, GA – alongside General of the Army George Marshall and President Dwight Eisenhower.
He’s also been nominated for the Officer Candidate School Hall of Fame at Fort Moore, GA (formerly Fort Benningl. He
was the youngest-ever graduate of OCS, one of the youngest and most highly decorated front-line Junior Army officers
in WWII, and led a top-secret mission that saved the World Famous Lipizzaner stallions,” Walt says.

This is an emotional tale of courage, daring, and heroism, one that will remind you of the indomitable human spirit.that lives in all of us. You can buy it straight off on Walt’s website, drwalt.com.

Sweet talk

Did the writing happen all of a sudden? Not really, Walt confirms: “For five years, from 1995 to 2000, I hosted a
nationally-syndicated cable TV show, Ask the Family Doctor. It was initially on America’s Health Network and then on the Fox Health Network, which later became Discovery Health. I’ve always enjoyed reading and began writing in 1990 when I was asked to write a twice-a-month column, “Diary of a Practice” for American Family Physician for ten years. That led to the opportunity to write or co-author over 1200 articles in scores of magazines and journals over the last 33 years and 41 books in the last 23 years.

“I continue to write a quarterly column, ‘Vaccine News You Can Use,’ in Colorado Family Physician and a bi-monthly ‘Ask Dr. Walt’ column in Today’s Christian Living. I also blog three times a week at https://Dr.Walt.com/. So there you go,” Walt smiles sheepishly.

Apart from work and family, faith holds an important place in the couple’s life. Since college, as followers of Jesus,
Barb, and Walt have intentionally worked Him into their lives, jobs, relationships, and conversations. “As a family physician, I strived to care for a family’s physical, mental, emotional, relational, and spiritual health. This led to a
continuing education course for healthcare professionals in the 1990s, ‘The Saline Solution: How to be Salt in the Right
Concentration with Your Patients.’ The course has been taught by the Christian Medical and Dental Associations to
over 100,000 health care professionals around the world,” Walt informs us.

Further, the course was updated in the early 2000s and titled, “Grace Prescriptions: Incorporating Spiritual Care in Your Practice.” More recently it has been updated again and is now called “Faith Prescriptions.” Walt has also written two versions of the course for businessmen and women: “Going Public with Your Faith: Becoming a Spiritual
Influence at Work,” which was updated into, “Workplace Grace: Becoming a Spiritual Influence at Work.”

No wonder then that their family motto is derived from their unwavering trust in Jesus. Barb’s motto reflects a line from Joshua 24:15, “As for our household, we will serve the Lord.” As for Walt, his motto comes from Matthew 6:33, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Short and sweet, these two sentiments speak volumes.

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© Copyright WLL, INC. 2024. This blog provides healthcare tips and advice that you can trust about a wide variety of general health information only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment from your regular physician. If you are concerned about your health, take what you learn from this blog and meet with your personal doctor to discuss your concerns.