Brigadier General (retired) Larry Reginald Capps passed away on Tuesday, May 2nd, 2023, at age 82. Larry was born in Henry County, Georgia on September 3, 1940, the son of Henry Clifford and Mary Evelyn (Bunn) Capps. In 1959, he received a Congressional Appointment to the U.S. Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York and graduated on June 5, 1963 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering. On June 16, 1963 he married his high school sweetheart and fiancé, Brenda D. Bailey. He and his new bride then began a 28-year career in the U.S. Army.
Larry’s Army career took him to numerous assignments within the United States and overseas. His first operational assignment was with an ordnance company located in Fischbach, Germany. From July 1967 to July 1968, he served in Vietnam with the Saigon Support Command staff and later as the Commander of an ordnance Company.
After graduating from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterrey, CA in July 1970, Larry and Brenda moved to Maryland where Larry was a systems analyst with the U.S. Army Small Arms Systems Agency. After graduating from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in 1974, Larry was assigned to a specialty unit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia assisting the Cambodian military.
After graduating from the Defense Systems Management College in 1976, Larry became the Director of the Program Management Office for the Patriot Air Defense Project Office at Redstone Arsenal. In 1977, Larry and family moved to Germany where Larry commanded an ordnance battalion. In 1979, Larry attended the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (ICAF) in Washington, D.C. After graduation in 1980, Larry worked at the Pentagon for the Army Chief of Staff. In 1983, Larry became the Commander of the 4th Training Brigade at Ft. Jackson, SC.
In June 1985, Larry became the Project Manager of Patriot Air Defense Missile System at Redstone Arsenal, AL. In 1988, Larry was promoted to Brigadier General and was assigned as the Deputy Commander of the U.S. Army Missile Command (MICOM) at Redstone Arsenal, the capstone assignment of his military career.
In October 1991, Larry retired from the U.S. Army and began a new career with the Raytheon Company, managing its Huntsville Operations. In February 2000 Larry became the CEO and President of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center (USSRC) in Huntsville, AL where he directed and managed the space museum and U.S. Space Camp educational programs. Larry retired from the USSRC in February 2011.
Larry served with several civic organizations including the Military Affairs Committee of the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce; the Huntsville Library Foundation; the Alabama Nature Conservancy; the Huntsville Rotary Club; the Association of the United States Army; and the National Defense Industrial Association. His civic awards include the Junior Achievement Business Laureate Award, the National Space Club Community Service Award, and the John B. Medaris Award from the Tennessee Valley chapter of the National Defense Industrial Association’s (NDIA).
Larry is survived by his devoted wife Brenda; his son, Barry and granddaughter, Alyssa who live in Myrtle Beach, SC; and his son, David who lives in Falls Church, VA.
Visitation will be Friday, May 12 from 1 to 2 PM with a memorial service from 2 to 3 PM. Both events will be at Laughlin Service Funeral Home. His final resting place will be the Lawnwood Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Covington, GA.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests remembrances in the form of donations in Larry’s memory to either the U.S. Space and Rocket Center Education Foundation or the Huntsville Madison County Veteran’s Memorial.
