Dorothy Ann Larsen

Dorothy Ann Larsen was born October 28, 1930, to Arthur and Dagny Lauritsen. When she was born my grandfather started a tradition of spelling the name on our birth certificates wrong, but at least we all had a name. They weren't ready for my dad when he was getting ready to marry my mom. Mom had one brother Don Ray Lauritsen, born July 30, 1934. One day mom and Don were riding a horse and they fell off and the horse stepped on Don's chest. Don wasn't seriously hurt, but that's when my mom's dislike for horses started. Mom grew up on a farm just as mechanized farming was starting to take over from horses. Dorothy's first school was a country school that only had 10 to 12 students with 1 to 2 students per grade. She went to high school at Audubon High School and graduated 2nd in her class of 60 students in 1949. She was a hard-working woman and took after her father in vowing not to use curse words, although I never had a problem knowing when I had screwed up. If she was really mad, she would say "You make me so mad I could spit!" and that's when I made myself scarce.

Mom started to date my dad during her senior year in high school and married June 8, 1950. On April 5, 1951, I decided to show up. When there were first married after dad graduated from the University of Iowa, he couldn't get a teaching job so he worked various jobs and Audubon. They decided to go back to farming and the parents each gave them starting stock. My grandpa Lewis gave them 200 laying hens and my grandpa Art gave them 10 pregnant sows. They got to keep the baby pigs but they had to give back the sows. Our first house didn't have indoor plumbing and the heater wasn't very efficient. About this time they wanted to have another child. Because of the difficult time that mom had with me they were worried mom being unable to carry another child, but on August 30, 1955 Amy Sue was born.

We only stayed on the farm another year when dad decided to go back to school at Iowa State University. We lived in a surplus army quasit hut for a rent of $26.00 per month. Both mom and dad worked to raise money while we were at ISU. Mom helped take care of other married student's children and she worked at the soil testing lab. My dad's youngest brother Phil and his wife Sandy moved in next to us and we enjoyed having family close by. Years later dad got his PhD, it was off to Washington DC to work for the USDA.

We moved to Greenbelt, just outside of Washington, that was a major culture shock for us. There were a lot of firsts for our family, like having a jewish family for a neighbor who became a very close friends of the family. It was just after President Kennedy had been assassinated and the black bunting was still on the White House. Mom took a job with the TV rating company. Right after I graduated from high school in 1969 dad decided that working for the USDA wasn't what he wanted to do so we packed up and moved to Colorado where he became the director of the Seed Testing Lab at CSU. After I helped get the folks settled, I joined the Air Force and disappeared for the next 4 years. After I was discharged, I started to work for Kodak where I met my future wife Sally. Sal was scared to death of meeting my folks and my grandmother Minnie, but they took her in like two mother hens taking in a lost chick. After we were married, we had a daughter Jessica.

Amy graduated from CSU with a Bachelor's degree in statistics and then went to UNC to get her Masters. She moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, but her allergies acted up so she moved back to Colorado. When she came back, she worked for Mountain Bell for about 7 years. She met Karl Brown and married, had two sons Sean and Mathew. After babysitting for several years, she went back to school and got her Masters in Education and started to teach school. The marriage with Karl didn't last but Amy is a strong person.

The latest member of our family is Jon Spinks. Mom's first great-granddaughter Ashlyn and great-grandson, Logan. Ashlynn graduated from Severance High School and will now start to make new life decisions.

Mom passed away on Memorial Day May 29, 2023. She was 92 years old. When I told Sal about mom's passing she said "Now she will have dad and our dog Muffin waiting to greet her as she goes thru heaven's gates.

-Her son, Roger Arnold Larsen

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.allnuttftcollins.com for the Larsen family.