A Short Biography of The Rev. Larry Crockett

The Rev. Larry Crockett became priest-in-charge at St. Mary's January 1, 2001.  He brings with him not only a family but also an unusual background.

He was born into an Air Force family and has lived all around the world.  For example, he spent some of his early elementary years in Germany and Italy.  High school was spent in Japan and Hawaii (where he learned to love motorcycling). He used to ride his motorcycle in Tokyo, would frequently get lost, and would have to ask local "papasans" for directions how to get home.  Once in Hawaii, he played in a rock band which had a small part in the Hawaiian-made movie, "Bikinis in Paradise." Since it quickly sank into a well-deserved oblivion, don't look for it at a theatre near you!  Usually, he brings his guitar to church, reflecting a 30-year-old passion for playing.

Fr. Crockett attended college at both the University of Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma Washington.  At UPS, he met the man who would change his life, Prof. Richard Overman, a Methodist clergyman.  Overman had a profound command of Christian history, a marvelous sense of humor, and more insight into the human condition than anyone Larry had met.  Eventually, Overman would nominate the future Fr. Larry for a Rockefeller scholarship to Princeton Seminary.

After a year at Princeton, he transferred to Luther Seminary in St. Paul at the behest of Lutheran denominational leaders so he could be ordained as a Lutheran pastor.  He subsequently was ordained and served Calvary of Golden Valley.  At that point, Calvary had about 6,000 members, so it was quite a different experience from being at St. Mary's.  In 1980, he resigned in order to attend graduate school in philosophy of science and computer science at the University of Minnesota, where he obtained his Ph.D.  In 1985, he joined the faculty at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, first as a member of the computer science department and then later as director of the Honors Program. He served for 16 years as director of the Honors Program and stepped down in 2005. He continues to teach extensively in the program.

The Rev. Crockett migrated to the Episcopal Church in 1994 because he wanted to have a fuller connection with all the traditions in the church.  Both something of a mystic and an academic skeptic, he finds in the Episcopal Church great respect for silence as well as a wide range of opinions, all of which come together at the Lord's Table in the Eucharist.  He completed Anglican training at both Nashotah House in Wisconsin and the University of the South (Sewanee, TN), and was ordained to the priesthood in August, 2000 after being ordained a deacon in 1999.

Fr. Larry has published two books and been on the editorial committee which produced a third.  The first one, Universal Assembly Language, should be purchased and read if you are battling insomnia.  The other, The Turing Test and the Frame Problem, might be of interest to philosophically inclined computer types, but probably not many others.  For the last five years, he has been working on The Storyteller and the Robot, which he is convinced will be an international best seller, just like the others.  Larry grew up listening to wonderful stories at the feet of his Tennessee grandmother who died in 2003; later he traced the limits of artificial intelligence in contemporary science at a major research university. The book tries to make sense of both ways of being in the world.

At left, you can see the whole family on a trip to Maui, Hawaii (thanks be to Photoshop for removing sunburns!) His son Kelsey, 19 at the time of the photo, is now 27 and his daughter Carmen, now 25, both work for Verizon after completing their college educations. His wife Cheryl, who refuses to disclose her age, has her own editing company, The Concise Word, and does some part-time work for area companies. Cheryl edits and prints the bulletin for St. Mary's and works with the music, occasionally filling in at the keyboard.

The Crocketts have enjoyed their more than nine years at St. Mary's and look to the future with great anticipation.