Martha Ann Larson

Martha Ann Larson (nee Dunlap), 91, of Phoenix, Arizona, passed away peacefully in the afternoon of January 25, 2024. A native of Powell, Ohio, “Marti” moved to Phoenix in 1957 with her first husband, Patrick F. Cooney, Sr., (d. 1993) and the four of their seven children.

She was preceded in death by her husband Lewis Kent Larson (d. 2006), her parents, Russell and Bernadine Dunlap, and step-mother Dorothy (Lewis) Dunlap; brother Tom Dunlap; and half-brothers Patrick and Michael Welsh. She is survived by her seven children, Rory Cooney (Theresa Donohoo) of Lake Zurich, IL, Terry Cooney (Sandra) of Peoria, AZ, Cathy Palmatier (Gary) of Santa Rosa, CA, David Cooney (BJ), of Westchester, CA; Diana Jeffress (Alan) of Phoenix, C. Thomas “Tom” Cooney (Debbie) of Martinez, CA, and Patrick Cooney Jr. (Tiffany), of Rocklin, CA. She was delighted by her legacy of 18 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren. Her marriage to Kent also brought his 33 grandchildren and 53 great-grandchildren into her life.

Marti loved road trips, whether across the country in the Ford station wagon to visit relatives in Ohio, Idaho, and Mississippi, or shorter drives in Arizona to vistas and places of interest. Life itself was often a rough road trip for her; nevertheless, she navigated it with determination and love, and nearly always with a positive spirit and a smile. Her fidelity to God was unshakeable and unchanged when she was invited across denominational lines, and her desire for a heaven where she might see her beloved parents and husband again, and have all her questions answered, kept her full of hope through the most difficult times. After the death of her husband, Kent Larson, she moved from their Safford home in southwest Arizona to a residence in Phoenix, where she lived alone for her last eighteen years. Her children are grateful for the attention and care she received at Orchid Park Care Home in Phoenix over the last year and a half.

Finally at rest, Mom, where you want to be. We hope all of your questions are answered, and you keep us in mind as you stand in the presence of the perfect Love for which you longed.

She looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Her children rise up and call her happy;

her husband too, and he praises her:

“Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.”

Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her a share in the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the city gates. (Proverbs 31: 27-31)