Lawrence Virgil Marak, BHS 1968

Lawrence Virgil Marak
August 5, 1950 - October 23, 2019

Larry Marak was born on August 5, 1950 in Los Angeles County, California and passed away on October 23, 2019. Larry grew up in Burbank and graduated from Burbank High with the Class of 1968. Larry married to fellow BHS graduate Susan Melissa Williams on September 4, 1976 in Los Angeles, California.  Larry and Melissa were married for 37 years.

Larry got a Masters from U.C.L.A. in ancient history, and had a teaching position lined up on the east coast when his wife Melissa had a stroke at age 27.  Didn’t have health insurance then and that put them behind the financial for 7 years, and so he entered public service.  Got hired with the city of Burbank.

Larry Marak, has had a long career at BWP (Burbank Water and Power). He was recognized for 35 years of service in a program at City Hall in 2015,  in fact, he says he is known as ‘old man Marak’ because he’s “outlived everyone else who was working there when he started.” 

Larry did a variety of field positions at Burbank Water and Power, Messenger Bill-Deliverer, mail room supervisor, meter reader, collector and senior field rep (doing new service connects and disconnects back in the days before smart meters).  The last 4 years I’ve transferred over to the credit section and process payments for transmission to treasury.

Larry and Melissa got into the construction toy hobby about 8 years ago while looking for bargains to give to a Salvation Army Angel tree.  We’ve supported the Angel trees for many years.  We are lifetime members of Legoland and have done quite a bit of building over the years.   Larry and Melissa transferred 10 years of parts to the Fort Erie and Burbank children’s libraries LEGO clubs.  Virtually all you see at the Burbank Central Library, including the cases, came from the Marak's. 

Larry and his wife have also done a lot of traveling, including seeing a total eclipse in the Amazon, climbing the Great Wall, making it to the top of one of the pyramids in Tikai Guatemala, and attending opening ceremonies of both the Los Angeles (1984) and Calgary (1988) Olympics. Larry also made an occasional television appearances.

Larry will be missed by his family and fellow classmates and friends. Funeral services are pending.

Update:
Funeral services will be held on Saturday, November 2, 2019 at 10:30 AM at the Burbank Faith Church of the Nazarene, 505 S. Sixth Street Burbank, CA 91501 (Corner of Sixth & Santa Anita) In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Burbank Faith Church Building Fund.