He came to Princeton from J.M. Atherton High School in Louisville. At Princeton he majored in biology and was a member of Cap and Gown. He was a three-year letterman on the swimming team, a Keyceptor for Orange Key, and on the staff of the Princeton Summer Camp. He roomed with Bill Carruthers, Bill Rudd, Pete Bowman, Hewes Agnew, Roy Riddick, Bob Bessire, and his brother Richard Jelsma ’59.
In 1962 Larry earned a medical degree from Johns Hopkins. He interned at the University of Kentucky Medical Center from 1962 to 1963 and returned to Johns Hopkins for a residency in neurosurgery. In 1969 he was drafted into the Army Reserve as a captain and assigned as a neurosurgeon with the 24th Evacuation Hospital at Long Binh. In 1970 he returned home and resumed his residency at Johns Hopkins, serving as chief resident in neurosurgery. In 1971 Larry moved from Baltimore to Louisville to join his father, Franklin, and brother Richard in a private neurosurgery practice in Louisville.
Larry wrote — often in collaboration with his partners — more than 20 articles on various neurosurgical techniques and advancements, and he served as an assistant clinical professor of neurosurgery at the University of Louisville for 16 years. He retired at 65 and enjoyed a life of hunting, fishing, and dairy farming at the historic family home he and his wife restored.
Larry is survived by his wife, Sherry; their children Franklin ’86, Becky, and Thomassen; their children’s spouses; his brother Richard; and eight grandchildren. The class extends its deepest sympathy to them all.