Larry Dean Beuchat

Larry Dean Beuchat, 79, went to be with the Lord on December 10, 2020, of complications of the after effects of a stroke. He passed at home with family while under Hospice care.

Born in Topeka, Kansas, on July 24, 1941, to Harold and Zelma Beuchat he was raised on a farm and graduated from Seaman High School.  After graduation he joined the Kansas National Guard Army as a cook.  Due to his love of music he started his own band known as the Larry Dean Band.  It consisted of eight members and played at the I.O.O.F. Hall in Topeka.  At age twenty he met his future wife, Betty Jane Lutz.  Five years later on April 1, 1967, they were married.

Larry Dean worked at Dibbles IGA in the bakery.  He continued with his love of band music by being a member of the Joe Schiefelbein and His Flying Dutchmen.  After Dibbles IGA closed he worked at Falleys Grocery Store as a sacker.  Later he worked for 501 Food Services at Topeka High School where he retired at the end of the school year in May, 2016.  Meanwhile he had gone back to his own band, the Larry Dean Polka Band, through the 1980's.  After retirement he continued his music by volunteering to play accordion and keyboard at nursing homes and at the North Topeka Church Outreach Program helping keep children fed and helping homeless shelters until his first stroke.

He was preceded in death by his father Harold (1978), his brother Richard (1992), his mother Zelma (1998), and his wife Betty (October 14, 2003).  Left to mourn his passing are his sister Carolyn, daughter Rachelle, daughter Tonya, five grandchildren Jacob, Samantha, Jessica, John, and Brian Jr., and two great-grandchildren Elliott and Ronald.

Memorial services will be held on April 1, 2021, at Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Berryton, Kansas.  Details will be available later at North Topeka Baptist Church.

Memorial contributions may be made to the North Topeka Church Outreach Program or to Hospice.