Lawrence “Larry” Guerra
Larry Guerra, our January Activist of the Month, grew up on Air Force bases, all over the world, and then then at age 13, he moved with his family to central Kansas. His father was career Air Force and his mother a homemaker. He grew up with two siblings, an older brother and younger sister. He has a daughter, who lives in Kansas with her husband and four children. Larry and Leslie have been married for twenty years.
Larry is a Tool and Die Maker by trade and worked in shops and factories until the age of 29, at which point he attended Kansas State University full time and earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering. Thereafter, he has had a very interesting career in engineering, designing and developing products and equipment.
Larry’s first job out of college was at Maytag (Newton, IA) in research and development. He worked in the front load washer design group developing Maytag’s first front loading washer. His next job was in Kansas City where he managed the engineering department and the development of an automated prescription dispensing machine. A life goal when he went to college was to do consulting engineering. In 1998, Larry started an engineering firm in the Kansas City area. He became quite successful and managed all aspects of the company, as well as, performing full time engineering duties. Over 19 years, his firm developed products and machines that include hand held electronics, fitness devices, medical devices and equipment, surgical tables, paving equipment, special rail cars, and much more. He sold his company in 2017. Larry is a listed inventor on over 70 patents issued to companies and clients he worked with/for over the course of his career. Thinking that he wanted to keep working, he and Leslie moved to Central Florida in 2018.
Larry’s first involvement in politics started after moving to Sanford in 2018. He became involved in SemDems with Leslie shortly after moving here. Their first endeavor was to canvass for the 2018 election. Their different personalities blend nicely when campaigning together. Larry has become even more involved with the SemDems since then. Among other Democratic activities, Larry is working on Deborah Population’s campaign (Seminole County Supervisor of Elections) as treasurer and campaign manager.
Larry says, “I like to handle details and ‘technical’ items such as Vote Builder and Mobilize.” He has been managing the SemDems’ Neighbor to Neighbor initiative by cutting turfs and providing the data to volunteers. He also enjoys canvassing and working events to collect petitions.
Among the things that he says he likes with the SemDems is that “it is an organization with a common goal and enthusiastic members. I like working with positive people.” In his spare time, Larry enjoys wood working and home renovation.
SemDems is so lucky to have Larry (and Leslie) as enthusiastic members!