Lawrence Edward Sobolik's Obituary
Lawrence “Larry” Edward Sobolik, age 80, passed away on Saturday, May 30th, 2026, at home in Oshkosh, WI. He was born on February 24th, 1946, to Albert and Alice Sobolik in South Milwaukee, WI. Larry graduated from UW-Oshkosh in 1969 and taught English at Oshkosh High School for several years. He later worked as a long-haul trucker and owned LES Express. Finally, Larry taught communication and report writing courses at Fox Valley Technical College until his retirement in 2007. Throughout his life, Larry enjoyed a wide variety of hobbies and interests--many of them related to planes, trains, and automobiles. During EAA, Larry could be found at the hangar with the “Flyboyz”, a small group of airplane enthusiasts and pilots, or photographing planes around the grounds. Young and old alike were entertained by his O gauge train collection and detailed small town layout. Most recently, Larry was an active participant and board member of the Central Wisconsin Auto Collectors Club, proudly showing his 1939 Tudor Ford Deluxe, “Henry”, in car shows around the area. Larry was an avid photographer. He captured years of family memories as well as the beauty of the world around him through his images. He shared his work with photo books, slideshows, calendars, and notecards. For several years, he worked with a local wildlife biologist studying and documenting Cooper’s Hawks in the Oshkosh area, contributing to the book, The Cooper’s Hawk. During their years together, Larry and Vicki enjoyed traveling outside of Wisconsin, including trips to the Grand Canyon, Savannah, Nevis, Cape Cod, and an Alaskan cruise. Larry will be remembered for his dry sense of humor, and his memory will live on through the many life lessons he passed on to anyone who spent time with him, particularly his grandchildren. He was always the person you went to if you wanted to know something or if you needed to get something done. If he didn’t know, he’d figure it out! Larry is survived by his life partner of over 30 years, Vicki Krause, and her children, Jennifer (Peter) Kalmon and Christopher Krause. He was GrandpaL to Braeden, Kyra, Ben, Addison, and Preston. He is also survived by his two brothers, David (Sally) and Russell. He was preceded in death by his parents, Albert and Alice Sobolik. A memorial service celebrating Larry’s life will be held on Thursday, June 25th, 2026, at 11:00 am at the Fiss & Bills-Poklasny Funeral Home, 865 S. Westhaven Drive, Oshkosh, WI. Visitation will be from 10:00 am to 11:00 am.
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