Well-known Moses Lake man dies of cancer

MOSES LAKE - Grace Harvest Church Associate Pastor Larry Brice, 52, Moses Lake, died Thursday after battling cancer but his life was memorialized through his friends.

"We spent most days together," Grace Harvest Church Pastor Doug Sherman said. "I'll miss his sense of humor, his laugh and his big hands. When he shook your hand it would just swallow your hand."

He said Brice was a large man with a deep laugh who gave consuming, welcoming hugs.

Sherman and Brice were best friends for nearly 19 years.

"I'll just miss having a really special friend," Sherman said.

Doctors located cancer in his intestine, liver and lung in November.

In December citizens in the Moses Lake community rallied to raise funds for treatment of Brice's stage four cancer.

Family member Teresa Tyler said the support continues after his death.

Community members sent gifts, food and flowers to the family. She said Brice's wife Shirley and 12-year-old daughter Madison are thankful.

Brice and his wife are referred to as high school sweethearts.

"He was very generous with his resources," Sherman said. "He gave to people, he gave to needs, he helped."

Brice extended his help to the Moses Lake Police Department in 1998.

He asked to serve as a chaplain on behalf of the Grace Harvest Church, Moses Lake Police Chief Dean Mitchell said. He offered spiritual support and counseling to officers.

Brice was active in the police department, he often rode along with officers several days a week, he said.

He was compassionate, understanding and was not judgmental, Mitchell said.

"He was a big, strong guy," he added.

The police chief said he admires Brice for how he handled his illness.

"He wasn't bitter," Mitchell said. "He set a great example for us to live by."

Brice still had service he wanted to complete, Sherman said.

"He was prepared (to die) and he prepared his family," he said. "At times he felt he had more to do. I think he felt he had unfinished business. He was dreaming of a spiritual awakening in our area. That's what he wanted most."

Brice was a worship leader and a music leader in the church, Sherman said.

"He was a great storyteller," he said. "He was a really funny guy. People always loved what he had to share."

He always made people laugh and worked to get into character when telling stories. He used different voices and accents, Sherman said.

He was able to communicate truth and wisdom in an understanding way, he added.

Brice served as a board member at the Crossroads Resource Center and served several ministry services. He went on mission trips and volunteered at an orphanage in Mexico.

"He helped people put their lives back together," he said.

Brice had a profound impact on those he met and befriended, Sherman said.

"It will go on." he said. "It will go on at Grace Harvest Church. It will go on in Moses Lake and beyond. He will be missed, dearly missed. He was a special man, a very special man. He was easy to love, easy to like, warm and disarming."

Sherman said Brice practiced what he preached daily.

"He was very real in his faith," he said. "Larry didn't like phony stuff."

Friends of Brice describe him as warm, irreplaceable, special, trustworthy, respected, gifted, loving, strong, dedicated to his religious faith and humble enough to admit his mistakes.

"What else could I say? I could go on and on and on," Sherman said. "I'm sitting back right now wondering what I'm going to do. We've been together and worked together for so many years."

"(People) want to see a miracle. They want to see me make it," Brice said in a December interview with the Columbia Basin Herald. "I keep asking God, 'well what are you up to? What's this all about?'"

A Memorial Service was held Tuesday in the Moses Lake Assembly of God Church with a reception at Grace Harvest Church.

Memorial contributions can be made on behalf of Shirley and Madison Brice. Contributions can be sent to Shirley and Madison Brice care of Grace Harvest Church, 313 Fig St., Moses Lake, WA. 98837.