John R. Larson (1870-1930)

LARSON, DURHAM

Posted By: Dorian Myhre (email)
Date: 5/17/2021 at 16:53:12

From Nevada Evening Journal May 2, 1930 (page 1)

FINAL RITES FOR JOHN R. LARSON THIS AFTERNOON

FUNERAL SERVICES AT METHODIST CHURCH; INTERMENT IN LOCAL CEMETERY

Business paused for an hour in Nevada this afternoon, while hundreds of neighbors and friends gathered around the bier of the late John R. Larson, 60, respected citizen of Nevada, to pay a final tribute to his earthly memory.

Offices at the court house were closed, business in offices of the city was suspended and business houses were locked for the hour during his funeral.

The schools of the city were recessed for the afternoon that the faculty and teachers might attend the services in a body, the deceased having been identified with the schools for the past quarter of a century as secretary of the board.

The Methodist church was filled to its capacity by people who had gathered out of respect to their friend and neighbor and to hear Rev. L. E. Watson preach a brief sermon and pay a little tribute to the deceased.

The front of the pulpit was banked with beautiful floral tributes and the scene was a fitting one for a man whose on great delight was the ever increasing beauty of the flower garden around his own home.

Prominent among the people who had gathered for the service were the members of the Story County Bar association, the Twentieth Century club, the Masonic and Pythian lodges, the library board and the schools with which he had long been closely identified and other organizations in the city.

The services were in charge of Rev. Watson, who preached the sermon and led the devotions.

Rev. Watson took for his text I Peter 1.13, and his subject "Girding up the loins of your mind." He gave an intimate sketch of the life, work and ideals of Mr. Larson, his intellectual attainments and various activities and paid a warm tribute to him as a citizen an a man.

During the service he read the following brief sketch of the life of the deceased, which had been very carefully prepared by one of the oldest and most intimate friends and associates of Mr. Larson:

"John R. Larson was born in Denmark in 1870. He migrated to the United States at the age of 17 and from that time on most of his life was spent in Story County. Though an emigrant boy without means except those earned by his own efforts as common labor he proceeded to obtain the best education possible under the circumstances. He attended the public schools of the county and opportunity afforded; for a time he attended Ellsworth College at Iowa Falls; and for about two years he was was a student of Engineering at Iowa State College at Ames. After acquiring something of an education he became a teacher, and taught for some time in the public schools of Story County, including Nevada High School.

"At the outbreak of the Spanish American War in 1898, he closed the door of the country school where he was then teaching an went immediately to Des Moines where he enlisted as a volunteer in Company 'F' of the 52nd Iowa Volunteer Infantry and later was made Artificer of that Company. He served with that organization until the end of the war and honorably discharged when the regiment was mustered out.

"This regiment like many others in the service in that war went through an awful epidemic of typhoid fever, and the losses sustained were very large. Mr. Larson, was one of the victims of this disease during his military service and never fully recovered therefrom.

"On December 12, 1900, he was united in marriage to Vivian Durham, of Nevada and to this union two children were born.'

"He leaves surviving him, his wife, one daughter Clara, now Mrs. Robert Boyce of Charles City, Iowa and a small grandson, Robert Boyce, Jr.; the son, Leonard, having died in 1924.

"In 1906, Mr. Larson, was admitted to the bar and since that time practiced the profession of law in the city of Nevada.

"In the course of his practice he was known as an able, fearless, and honorable advocate and was held in highest esteem and regard by the Judges of the Court and the other members of the Bar with whom he came in contact.

"His professional ideas were the highest and his integrity always unquestioned.

"He was also interested in other business enterprises, among them the Iowa Building & Loan Association of which organization he was Vice President, and member of the Board of Directors.

"In the community in which he lived, Mr. Larson was an outstanding citizen and always took an active part in community affairs, and rendered a full share of community service. He was for many years a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Nevada and active in the work of that organization.

"He was for a number of years City Solicitor of Nevada and at the time of his death had served 25 years as Secretary of the Nevada School Board. He was for many years president of the Board of Trustees of the Nevada Public Library, to which institution he gave freely of his time and effort. He was one of the organizers of the Nevada Community Club, and did much to ensure the success of that organization of which he was one of the early presidents.

"In spite of his limited opportunities in obtaining an education and in attending educational institutions, Mr. Larson was a man of remarkable educational attainments. He was a profound student of history, literature and the social and economic sciences; and no man of the community, schooled in colleges or otherwise, surpassed him in scholarship or scholarly attainments in these lines.

"And now the poor emmigant boy with these and many other achievements to his credit leaves the stage of human activity beloved by his fellow citizens and his loss most keenly felt by his family, friends and associates.

Mrs. Olson was at the organ and played softly during the opening and closing moments of the service. There was no singing.

Pall bearers were C. E. Airy, T. M. Dickens, H. P. Alberry, F. C. Tarman, E. C. Button and C. F. Wilson, while the flowers were in charge of Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Hadley.

The funeral cortege from the church to the cemetery was under a guard from Nevada Post No. 48 American Legion, the body was interred with military honors and a firing squad form the Legion fired a volley "Into the west" as the body was lowered into the grave.