“If you ever met Larry, you remembered him, and he remembered you,” Lauren Pritchard said. She was one of Larry Triplett Jr.’s close friends, especially after she moved home several years ago.
You may have met him through the local theater, or it could have been at the Tap on a Friday night. You also could have seen him on an Amazon Prime special series. He might have even been the person to save your life, or your loved one’s life, since he was a firefighter, reserve deputy, and paramedic. The fact is, if you have lived in Jackson, you have likely seen Larry Triplett Jr. around town.
Sadly, Triplett passed away Saturday, June 10, after an extended illness, at the age of 38.
“He was involved in a little bit of everything,” Fire Chief Don Friddle said, “and indeed good at everything he did.”
Triplett worked for the Jackson Fire Department for 16 years. He was known for lighting up every room he entered, and giving his all for the community he dearly loved.
Friddle says over the past several days, he has looked through pictures of Triplett, honoring his life. There’s two pictures that stand out to him: the first is of two Madison Co. volunteer firefighters crawling away from a house fire.
“And there’s two firefighters that crawl out of their house on their hands and knees, and they continue to crawl on their hands and knees,” Friddle said one of them was Larry Triplett Jr., “The reason they were still on their hands and knees at that time was because they left everything in that house. They did not have the physical energy to stand up.”
The other picture Friddle is on a cruise ship, as he holds the champion belt for winning the cruise’s Lip Sync Battle. Triplett had won by wearing a suit, but then revealing a sequin dress and a wig like Tina Turner, as he sang the hit “Rollin on the River.”
“I laughed and I laughed to the point that it just tickles me still to this day,” Friddle said, “If I am having a bad day, I will actually go back and watch that.”
Triplett, tall and muscular, was described as a “lovable teddy bear.” He taught fire education classes for the Jackson Fire Department and also helped the Madison County Fire Department by voluntarily participating in their puppet shows.
Saturday night, Lauren Pritchard and Will Burton performed a tribute to Triplett at the Tap Bar and Grill.
“He was not afraid to put himself out there. Really, in any regard,” Pritchard said, remembering the times their friend group sang karaoke or had a late night out on the town.
“He had the ability to make people feel comfortable, which then in turn, made people want to get to know him,” Pritchard said, “It was such a special quality that he had. On top of that, he just happened to be an incredibly talented musician and singer and performer, and he’s a really great actor .He was a very talented guy, I’ll always talk about because he just always seemed to have an endless treasure trove of special skills.”
Larry Triplett leaves behind countless friends, family, and a daughter, who Friddle and Pritchard hope will remember all of the amazing things her father did.
“You can’t really say enough about him, because the people that he interacted with, and that he touched the lives of, there’s no telling how many there were,” Friddle said.
Services for Larry Triplett Jr. will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 24 at West Jackson Baptist Church, with visitation from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Additional visitation is from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m Friday at Mercer Brother Funeral Home.
Julia Ewoldt, julia@jacksonpost.news
