Cars, pranks and great hair: Former Record Searchlight GM remembered

He loved cars, food and a good joke, but hated computers.

When philanthropist and former general manager of the Record Searchlight Larry Wakefield, 82, died on July 11, he left behind a legacy of pranks and good will.

Wakefield was just out of college in 1957 when he got his first job with Scripps newspaper publishers, operating an accounting machine, his wife Nancy Wakefield said. The couple moved to Redding in 1980 when he took a job as the Record Searchlight's new business manager, eventually getting promoted to general manager. 

During his 17 years in Redding, Wakefield helped found Leadership Redding and was active in Redding East Rotary Club.  

“When he was campaigning (for Rotary president) he rode his Harley-Davidson motorcycle through the meeting room of the Holiday Inn and out the back door,” said Ed Harrison, Wakefield’s friend and owner of Timberline Heating and Air Conditioning. “When he left the presidency, (the Rotary hosted) ‘Bury Larry.’ They made him a suit out of the Record Searchlight. He was lowered into this mound of dirt in a wooden coffin.”

Nancy Wakefield said her husband was known for the little jokes he'd play on people. “He would just set me up a lot.”

Once the couple knocked on Harrison's door at 6 a.m. piled him, his wife and six other friends — still in their pajamas — into their motorhome and drove them to their house for breakfast, Harrison said.

That motorhome was one of the Wakefields’ many vehicles.

“We had a six-car garage in Redding," Nancy Wakefield said. "Larry had a ’55 Chevy (and) Corvettes. He wasn’t mechanical. He just liked to look at them, wash them, wax them.”

Did he ever drive them?

“Rarely,” she said.

Once, in the mid-1980s, Wakefield did drive one of his Corvettes to and from a show-and-shine at Riverview Country Club. That night, the car caught fire in the garage.

“Our dog kept barking," said Nancy Wakefield and added she and Larry told her to be quiet. “Then our 90-year-old neighbor showed up at 10 p.m.” to say the garage was on fire.

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The couple were members of the Redding United Methodist Church, and Larry Wakefield sat on boards at Mercy Foundation North and Shasta Community Health Center. He was a member of the Greater Redding Chamber of Commerce, the American Cancer Society, Redding Area Development Committee, Forward Redding Foundation, Redding Elks Lodge and Redding Moose Club.

Being well known in the business community came with privileges, like being the first person down the slide after the ribbon cutting at WaterWorks Park.

"He came out in a long-handle (sleeved) red swimsuit, a top hat in his hand, waving it while he went down the slide," Nancy Wakefield said.

Among Wakefield's informal memberships was a dinner group called the Bon Appetite Gourmet Society (BAGS), Harrison said. “Restaurant (staff) would think we were some special organization there to rate their restaurant. It was interesting to see what special treatment we would get.”

One trait his wife and friends admired about Wakefield: His hair. 

It always looked perfect, Harrison said.

The only time Nancy Wakefield remembers she saw his hair mussed in public was when it got wet on the waterslide.

While he liked his job at the Record Searchlight, he hated computers, she said. "That was one of the biggest reasons he retired in 1997."

The couple traveled in their motorhome for two-and-a-half years before settling in Sun City in Southern California.

"We had a good life here," Nancy Wakefield said. 

Larry Wakefield is also survived by his three children, two step-children, six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

A memorial service is planned on Oct. 12 at Shepherd of the Valley United Methodist Church in Indio.

“He could be friends with a car mechanic or a contractor like myself, while he held a respected position in the community," Harrison said. "He was an extremely likable person (who) always made everyone feel at home.”

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