Sonya “Sunny” Carolyn Larsen

LARSEN, BENNA, JAFVERT, CLAUSEN

Posted By: Sarah Fletcher (email)
Date: 9/15/2020 at 12:09:04

Sonya “Sunny” Carolyn Larsen (née Benna), age 86 of Iowa City died peacefully at home surrounded by family early morning on Wednesday, September 2, 2020.

Due to the pandemic, the funeral service will be private. A live stream will be available for others to view (Friday, September 4th at 1:00 pm). Service for the family will be at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Iowa City, where Sunny has been an active member since 1960. Instead of flowers and plants, memorials may be directed to the Iowa City Free Medical Clinic, Iowa City Hospice or Gloria Dei Lutheran Church.

Sonya, known to most as Sunny, was born to Harriet (Jäfvert) and Bertil Benna, in Storm Lake, Iowa on July 5, 1934. At a young age her family moved to the Minneapolis area. She graduated from St. Louis Park High School in 1952. Sunny met her late husband, Karl, at St. Olaf College and the two were married the day after they graduated in 1956. She moved to Iowa City in 1960, when Karl started his internship and residency at the University of Iowa. Except for a two-year stint in Washington DC, where Karl was stationed during the Cuban Missile Crisis, she has lived in Iowa City ever since. Sunny wore many hats during her life, including but not limited to, substitute teacher in art and language arts, a member of the art department at Young and Rubicam in Chicago, a painter, and a stay-at-home mother. To the chagrin of some of her children, she insisted “Mad Men” (at least according to her experience with the people she worked with in the late 1950’s) was a bunch of bologna. To her chagrin, some of her children watched it anyway. Sunny loved reading, art, and gardening. She enjoyed spending time at her summer cabin in Door County, Wisconsin, and she enjoyed travel, especially trips to visit relatives in Sweden and Denmark. She loved and was loved deeply by her family.

Sunny is preceded in death by her husband, Karl, mother Harriet, father Bertil, mother-in-law, Anna, and father-in-law Karl. She is survived by her sister, Sandra Clausen, of Iowa City, daughter Annie Larsen of Iowa City, son (Karl) Sam Larsen of Lone Tree, Iowa, daughter Sara Larsen of Madison, Wisconsin, son Tom Larsen of Iowa City, and grandchildren, Faun, Annika, Kristen, Jericho, Kaj, Leif and Jonus.

Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service
 

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