A longtime Boise-area automotive dealer and philanthropist, Larry Chetwood, died last week. He had been battling cancer for the past two years. He was 83.
For more than 30 years, Chetwood owned and operated Meridian Ford in Meridian. He sold the dealership to the Kendall Auto Group in 2012.
Chetwood was born in 1939 in Kansas City, Missouri, and spent his early years in the Show Me State. He got his first degree from Westminster College, with a BA in Business. He then served in the US Army, followed by a stint at the University of Missouri at Columbia. There Chetwood met his wife Shirley Semple. The pair married in 1966.
He went into sales for Ford, and was transferred to Salt Lake City, Utah. In 1975 he took a job as general manager at a dealership in Montana. In these years, Larry and Shirley welcomed the births of Christin, Holly, and Patrick.
With three young kids in tow, the Chetwoods bought Gibson-Welker Ford from Kenneth Gibson and Roger Welker in Meridian in 1979 and rebranded it as Meridian Ford.
Over the years, the dealership grew – and moved to a high-profile new location on Overland Rd. in Meridian near Interstate 84 and Meridian Rd. in November 1995 where it stands today – now branded as Kendall Ford of Meridian.
Selling cars across Idaho
In 1991, Chetwood purchased the Boise Lincoln-Mercury franchise after Dick Donnelly Linclon-Mercury closed. Chetwood sold the franchise to Roundtree in 1995. The Lincoln franchise is now part of Lithia Motors’ Boise operation. The Mercury nameplate is defunct.
Chetwood also snagged two Moscow, Idaho dealerships, selling Ford, Honda, Cadillac, and more.
In a look at Idaho Statesman archives over the past thirty years, Chetwood isn’t quoted talking about himself — but most often about his dealership or competition. When Roundtree purchased Bob Rice Ford, he told the Statesman his then-independent dealership was ready to compete.
“I’m ready to compete,” he said. “We’re up for the battle.”
When times were good, he told the Statesman about it. When the economy dipped in the last 2000s, he lamented that few people were showing up to buy cars. When Dan Wiebold Ford (now Corwin Ford Nampa) hoped to build a new dealership along I-84 in Nampa, he went to court to try and stop it, citing an Idaho law barring two franchise dealerships located within seven miles.
Sports & charity
Chetwood, growing up in the Kansas City area, loved the Chiefs and supported local schools in the communities where he lived and worked. In Boise, he was a Boise State basketball and football season ticket holder – and had lifetime seats to the BSU Pavillion when the campus basketball arena was first built in the 1980s.
He and Shirley were prominent donors to St. Luke’s Health System, the Idaho Shakespeare Festival and the Boys and Girls Club of Ada County.
Chetwood is survived by Shirley, their three children, and a number of grandkids. Services are set for July 28th at 11 a.m. at Meridian United Methodist Church.
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July 18, 2023 at 11:08PM
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Former auto dealer Larry Chetwood of Boise, ID dies - boisedev.com
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