Mary Lou Larson

Mary Lou Mather Larson, widow of John A. (Jack) Larson, passed away Thursday, January 12, 2017, in Thornton, Colorado at age 89.  She was born in a sod house in the Morton Township of Wallace County on October 21, 1927, the daughter of Elden Mather and Grace Phillips.

She excelled in school and was Valedictorian of her class.  After high school she worked as an abstracter in Sharon Springs before moving to Denver and working at Montgomery Wards and living with her future sister-in-law Ellen Larson Huffman.

She married John A. (Jack) Larson on June 26, 1947.  Jack and Mary Lou spent the early part of their marriage in Newcastle, Wyoming, where his mother’s and her half-sister’s family lived.  After a short time, they moved back to Wallace County, and worked hard building and managing a dairy farm.  Mary Lou enjoyed milking the cows, gardening, canning, sewing, making candy, and cooking.

The highlight of her life was her two children, Larry and Mary.  She made sure they had wonderful memories of childhood birthdays and holidays.

Jack and Mary Lou retired from dairy farming and moved back to Newcastle in 1987.  While retired, she still enjoyed gardening, canning, sewing, cooking, and making candy.  She began working at the Newcastle Public Library in 1990, and thoroughly enjoyed it until her retirement in 1995.  She and Jack also enjoyed going up to Deadwood to gamble, pretty much every week, unless the weather was so bad they couldn’t go.  They also enjoyed having relatives come visit, and would spend hours and hours at the card table having fun playing cards and other games.

She is survived by son Larry Larson (Sherry Larson) of Oak Grove, Missouri, and daughter Mary Anne Larson (Chris Roger) of Arvada, Colorado.  She was preceded in death by her husband, John A. (Jack) Larson, father Elden Mather, mother Grace Phillips Mather, sister Juanita Grace Mather Grund, and brothers Edgar Elden and John Phillips Mather.  Half siblings from Elden Mather’s previous marriages that preceded her in death were Earl Mather (mother Jenny Roth), James Connolly, and Anna Gladys Mather Gibbs (mother Susan Pershing Connolly).