Lawrence W. Meads Sr., a master boatbuilder who worked at Flyer’s Boat Yard in Provincetown for 45 years, died peacefully on Dec. 5, 2024 at Cape Cod Hospital, surrounded by his loving family. He was 90.

Larry was born in Provincetown on Jan. 20, 1934, the only child of Lawrence Meads and Margaret MacFarlane. He graduated with high honors from Provincetown Vocational School, where he studied mechanics, woodworking, and welding and learned to work with the tools that shaped his exceptional skills. During high school, he also learned boatbuilding by working at Dave Foster’s boatyard in Truro, said his wife, Nancy.

Right after graduating, Larry went to work at Flyer’s in an era of iron men and wooden boats. His mentor was Joe Andrews, and they became fast friends. “Larry did everything,” said Nancy. “He was a jack of all trades. He did all the welding, put engines in the boats, worked on the railway. Not one job ever came back. The boat captains all loved him.”

Succeeding at Flyer’s wasn’t easy, said master boatbuilder Ted Box of Vineyard Haven, who worked with Larry. “Most guys couldn’t last a day,” he told Martha’s Vineyard Magazine in 2022. “They’d quit at lunchtime and not come back for a paycheck.”

But Larry enjoyed his work and the challenge each boat brought to the railway. “Larry was the kind counterpoint to Flyer’s fire” and was known for his patience, wrote Box in an online remembrance. “Once, while fitting a covering board he had spent hours preparing, meticulously notched to fit around the stanchions, he told his inexperienced helper, ‘Don’t force it, Pahd.’ I was painting the bottom of a dragger nearby when I heard a crack, a pause, ‘You forced it, Pahd.’ That was Larry.”

Larry was a man of few words, humble and hardworking, always grateful and appreciative, said Nancy. “He wasn’t interested in materialistic things,” she said. “For these qualities he was well liked and respected.”

Nancy Paine and Larry Meads were high school sweethearts, both graduating in 1954. “He was my boyfriend from the 10th grade,” she said. “He still is.”

Larry was 20 and Nancy 18 when they married. Two years later, they bought the house on Cottage Street where Nancy was born. It had been the home of George Paine, her grandfather.

“My father lived there, and it was going up for sale,” said Nancy. “Larry and I bought it with a $500 down payment. Mr. Silver at the bank was wonderful and approved the mortgage.”

Over the years, the couple renovated the house for their growing family and made ends meet by renting rooms at what became the Cottage Street Guest House. “We moved downstairs in the summer, upstairs in the winter,” said Nancy. “Larry made two apartments in the garage.”

Larry was a devoted member of the Knights of Columbus for 70 years. He was also a volunteer firefighter on Pumper No. 1 for 45 years. He enjoyed the meetings, drills, suppers, and especially the camaraderie, said Nancy.

He also loved being on the water. He was an avid bass fisherman with many stories. When he wasn’t fishing, he was with his family on Long Point picnicking.

After retiring, he and Nancy became aquaculturists, leasing two acres from the town near Long Point. With the help of their children, and with their friends Carl and Paul Tasha, John Bennett, Molly Benjamin, and others, they learned how to grow littleneck clams and supplied local restaurants for 15 years.

Later, the couple traveled extensively. Their biggest challenge was the last year of Larry’s life with many medical appointments and trips to the hospital. He faced it as always, calmly and courageously: “Just get the job done and get me home.”

“We all have stories of Larry in his dedication to the fleet,” wrote Ted Box. “But as great as his service was, what those of us who were lucky to be close to him knew, his love story with Nancy was his greatest performance.”

At their 50th anniversary celebration at Café Edwige, Box wrote, “I noticed Larry’s shyness, as usual, but the unmistakable love between the celebrants was thicker than the frosting on the cake. Larry and Nancy were a model many of us hoped to follow, but values like theirs, devotion, only having eyes for each other, are something rare. The many times I visited them through the years was like time traveling to a different America, one that maybe didn’t exist anywhere else but in that little white house on Cottage Street.”

Larry leaves his wife, Nancy, of Provincetown; their children Nancyann Meads of Provincetown, Laurel Meads and partner Dr. William Lucas of Fairhaven, Lawrence Meads Jr. of Provincetown, Russell Meads of Provincetown, and Jamie Meads and wife Erika of Wellfleet; grandchildren Nitara Meads of Whitefish, Mont., Marlene Meads of Boston, Jaxen and Harper Meads of Wellfleet, and Kyla Meads of Miami, Fla.; several nieces and nephews; and too many wonderful friends to name.

A memorial Mass will be celebrated at St. Peter the Apostle Church in Provincetown at 11 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 20 with a celebration of Larry’s life immediately following at the Knights of Columbus Hall.