Larry A. DeRoo, age 78, a resident of West Chicago, IL, passed away on Monday, July 28, 2025, at home.  He was born August 17, 1946, in Wheaton, IL to Floyd & Cerena (Hendrixon) DeRoo.

Larry grew up on Wiesbrook Road in Wheaton, IL, where he and his childhood friends would have fun running around the neighborhood.  When the Vietnam War broke out, he decided to enlist instead of being drafted, so that he could pick the area he wanted to go into, which was fixing radios.

After the war, he worked at Crescent Helicopters, where he was a helicopter mechanic.  He eventually married, divorced, and had a daughter, who he relocated from Texas to Illinois; moving in with his parents to help raise his daughter.  Unfortunately, his father passed away in 1987, leaving his mother, daughter, and himself as family unit of 3.

Shortly after his daughter was born in 1982, he started working at Fermilab, where he worked as a Mechanical Technician in the Central Helium Liquefier Building.  He would work there until his retirement in 2021.

He was a jack of all trades, a true "Renaissance man" (someone who is knowledgeable, educated, and proficient in many different fields).  You name it, he could do it or figure out how to do it.  Machinist, mechanic, plumber, electrician, auto body restorer, metal works, carpenter, farmer, the list goes on and on.

He enjoyed helping his mother with her garden, plowing the land for her and putting tons of fertilizer on her huge garden.  He loved doing things for himself and working the land, even custom making tree taps so that he could gather maple sap and ultimately turn it into delicious maple syrup.  He perfected his mother's sour kraut recipe; would drive the family up to Michigan every year to get bushels of peaches, blueberries, pears, and strawberries; and loved helping his daughter with her school projects, even replicating the Hubble Telescope by machining all the metal parts himself.

In his retirement, he loved spending time with his granddaughter Ava.  They loved to laugh and play together.

He is survived by his daughter, Kelly Wells of Elgin, IL; granddaughter, Ava Wells; and niece, Carmen Mallory of Elgin, IL.

He was preceded in death by his parents, and brother Lester DeRoo.

A visitation will be held on Thursday, July 31, 2025, from 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.  at Hultgren Funeral Home, 304 N. Main St., Wheaton, IL 60187, where a funeral service will be held on Friday, August 1, 2025, at 10:00 a.m.  Interment will follow at Wheaton Cemetery with lunch after.

Memorial gifts may be directed to Suncrest Hospice , 5 Revere Drive Suite 130, Northbrook, IL 60062.

Family and friends may sign a guest book at hultgrenfh.com. For more information, please call Hultgren Funeral Home at 630-668-0027.