John William Larsen

Born on November 10, 1939, in Seattle, Washington, John was a cherished husband, father, grandfather and friend. He is survived by his loving wife of 58 years, Barbara, his children, Matthew (Lisa) and Susan (Gary Matchinsky), and his four grandchildren Sydney and Tyler Larsen and Adam and Holly Matchinsky, his sister Linda and brother-in-law Mark White. He was preceded in death by parents Milton and Minnie Larsen and sister Elaine and brother-in-law Ken “Dick” Brown.

John spent his younger life in Tacoma WA before his family moved to Anacortes WA. After graduating from Anacortes High School, he proudly served in the U.S. Navy where he was stationed at Whidby Island Naval Air Station before deploying on the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany for an Asian tour that included Japan and the Philippines. He was honorably discharged in 1960 before beginning his college studies at Fullerton Junior College in Fullerton CA.

During college, John spent his summers at home in Anacortes, working as a cook on the Washington State Ferry that commutes between Anacortes and Victoria, BC, on Vancouver Island. During one of his summers at home, he met Barbara and they were married in 1965. The newlyweds moved to Anaheim CA where John attended Cal State Fullerton, graduating with a BA degree. After graduating, John was hired by IBM who were at the nascent of computing and were hiring computer programmers. After completing an aptitude test, IBM trained him to be a programmer. That new career led to many fulfilling jobs in the computer industry leading the family to live in a number of locales: California, Hawaii, Minnesota, Washington, California, New Mexico and finally landing in Arizona for the last 38 years.

John had many interests: he loved baseball and watched every Diamondbacks game. He had a garden railroad with a large layout in the backyard, loved playing the piano every day, learned to fly and owned his own plane, played Texas Hold’Em at the nearby casino, painted in the Bob Ross style (happy little

trees), loved reading mysteries, and he especially loved starting each day playing Wordle with the grandkids.

John will be remembered for his remarkable life, filled with love, laughter, teasing and puns. He leaves behind a rich legacy and his spirit will continue to inspire the family he knew and deeply loved.

A Celebration of Life will occur at 11 A.M. on Friday, January 10th, 2025, at Lakeshore Mortuary.