Harold V. Larson

The funeral service is live-streamed at:  https://www.ourlivingwater.org/haroldlarson.html 

Harold V. Larson, age 93, of Willmar, died Thursday evening, Aug. 22, at CentraCare Rice Memorial Hospital. 

Visitation will begin at 10 a.m. followed by the Funeral Mass at 11 a.m. on Friday, September 20, at the Church of St. Mary in Willmar. Interment will be in the church cemetery.  Military honors will be provided by the Willmar American Legion Post #167. 

Arrangements are entrusted to the Peterson Brothers Funeral Home.  www.petersonbrothers.com

Harold Vitalis Larson was born on March 25, 1931, in Aitkin, Minnesota, the son of Harry and Anna (Van Hale) Larson. He was baptized in St. James Catholic Church and after attending the Aitkin Public School for kindergarten and grades one to three, he attended Maryhill Academy for grades four through eight. His father died in September of 1941 and Harold and his mother continued to live in Aitkin.

 In September of 1945, Harold enrolled in Nazareth Hall in St. Paul from where he graduated in 1949. During the previous three summers he had worked in the National Food Store in Aitkin and after graduating high school, he worked full time at the store.

 On January 2, 1951, Harold enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He attended boot camp at Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Illinois. In March he was assigned to the USS Gunston Hall, LSD 5, and boarded the ship in Bremerton, Washington. He was a member of the Supply Department and in the four years that he was aboard the ship, Harold advanced in rank to Petty Officer First Class. The ship made two tours of duty in Korea and Japan. Harold was honorably discharged in October of 1954 and returned to work at the National Food Store in Aitkin.

 In September of 1954, Harold enrolled in Bemidji State Teachers College. There he earned a bachelor’s degree with majors in English, Social Studies and American Humanities. He graduated with honors in June of 1959.

 On August 8, 1959, Harold was united in marriage to Mary Josephine Boggs, daughter of Daniel and Katie Boggs. Since Harold had a teaching contract in Willmar, the couple made their home in Willmar. Harold taught seventh, eighth and nineth grade German and eleventh grade English for several years. After 1965, he only taught senior high English.

 In 1976, the Larsons bought ten acres of land just north of Willmar and began plans to build a home there. In October of 1978, they moved into the new home and started a garden, growing vegetables to sell at farmers' market.

 Harold retired from teaching in June of 1992 and then went full time into gardening, market and traveling. He and Jo visited twenty-eight countries in Europe, (some more than once), made two three-week visits to Ghana and a month-long visit to Turkey.

 In 2006, Harold had a valve replaced in his heart, had cataract surgery in 2015, and then began having problems walking. He found out that he had been born with a congenital hip which he did not have corrected.

 For thirty years, Harold was involved with searching his and Mary Jo’s family history. This gave them an opportunity to travel around the United States and to spend many hours in libraries and court houses searching for information. It was because of this search that Jo and Harold met many of Jo’s relatives whom they did not know before. Harold became very interested in genealogy and traced his and Jo’s families back to the seventeenth centuries.

 Harold and Jo were very active members in the Church of St. Mary. For several years they served as Eucharistic Ministers, Sacristans and were members of the Social Concerns Committee. Harold also was very active with the Kandiyohi County Historical Society.

 He is survived by several relatives and many friends. 

 He was preceded in death by his parents and his wife, Mary Jo in February of 2024.