Larry Hibbard

Larry Paul Hibbard was born on 14 September 1945 to Paul and Bernita Hibbard in Greenwood County, Kansas, and grew up on farmland near Toronto that his great-grandparents had settled in 1869. He was an active 4-H member as a boy and developed a lifelong love of sport.

He graduated from Toronto High School in 1963 and went on to Kansas State University, where he made lifelong friends and became a passionate Wildcats supporter. During the same period he served six years with the Kansas National Guard's 772nd Engineer Company at Yates Center.

In 1967 Hibbard returned home to join the family farm and livestock operation, which raised beef cattle and ran a farrow-to-finish hog business. When the farm economy made hogs increasingly difficult, he took on a range of other jobs and enterprises to support his family and keep the farm running.

He served on the Board of Education for Eureka Unified School District 389 and was a member of the Greenwood County Cattlemen's Association, the Greenwood County Farm Bureau and the Kansas Livestock Association. With his wife he served on the Kansas Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee.

In 2012 he was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives for District 13, succeeding Forrest Knox, and he was reelected twice. A moderate Republican, he sat on the Agriculture and Natural Resources, Transportation and Rural Revitalization committees and proposed a constitutional amendment limiting legislators to 12 consecutive years in office. His family said he helped overturn Governor Sam Brownback's income tax experiment and backed Governor Laura Kelly's plan for Medicaid expansion. In the 2019 session he stood up to House leadership during budget negotiations, saying: "Leadership comes up here and starts threatening cuts for each and every one of us." He resigned on 13 July 2019 for health reasons and was succeeded by Joe Newland.

Hibbard married Cynthia "Cindy" Leayman of Rock, Kansas, at Rock Methodist Church on 7 December 1969. They had a son, Clayton, and a daughter, Paula, and later grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The couple ran the farm together, attended livestock sales and sporting events side by side, and loved to dance.

He was a member of Toronto United Methodist Church and served for several years as volunteer auctioneer at its Fall Festival. He belonged to Woodson Lodge No. 121 in Toronto for 63 years and took pride in the family's Masonic heritage; his grandson Nick became the sixth generation of the family to serve as the lodge's Grand Master. He was also a member of the Greenwood County Shrine Club in Eureka.

Larry Hibbard died on Sunday, 18 October 2026, at Fredonia Regional Hospital in Fredonia, Kansas, surrounded by loved ones. He was 81. The family's news release did not give a cause of death. His death was reported by the Kansas Reflector and in an obituary in The Eureka Herald.

A celebration of life was planned for 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, 24 October 2026, at the Toronto High School gymnasium, with inurnment at Toronto Cemetery. The family asked that memorials go to Woodson Lodge No. 121 or the Greenwood County 4-H Foundation. Koup Family Funeral Home in Eureka handled arrangements.

Hibbard was remembered as a rural legislator who kept friendships on both sides of the aisle and in every corner of Kansas, took his responsibilities seriously and was willing to stand on his convictions when a proposal threatened his constituents. His obituary noted his quick wit and habit of punctuating debate with a well-timed quip, and described a life rooted in family, faith, agriculture, service and community.