Wendell E. LARSEN

LARSEN, BLACK, PIPER, MURPHY, TALLEY, THELKE

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 1/13/2010 at 10:48:55

January 13, 2010
Fort Dodge Messenger, Iowa

Wendell E. Larsen, 81, of Fort Dodge, died Monday, January 11, 2010, at the Fort Dodge Villa Care Center. Services will be 11 a.m. on Friday, January 15, 2009, at St. Paul Lutheran Church with the Rev. Lyle Hansen officiating. Interment will be in the North Lawn Cemetery with military honors provided by the V.F.W. Post No. 1856. The family will receive friends from 10 a.m. on Friday until service time at St. Paul Lutheran Church. Arrangements have been entrusted to the Gunderson Funeral Home & Cremation Services.

Wendell is survived by his wife Erma; his children, Vance (Deb) Larsen, Fort Dodge; Linda (Tom) Black, Tonasket, Wash.; Lori (Tom) Piper, Burlington, Ver.; five grandchildren, Travis (Vaughan) Larsen, Alex Piper, Blake Larsen, Zachary Piper and Margaret Black; three step-grandchildren, Darren (Tracy) Murphy, Sean (Aimee) Murphy, Jack (Tonya) Black; and a brother Leonard Larsen, Jefferson. Wendell was preceded in death by his parents.

Wendell E. Larsen, the son of Nels C. and Florence (Talley) Larsen, was born March 3, 1928, in Des Moines. Wendell and his family moved to Fort Dodge in 1929, and he graduated from Fort Dodge Senior High School in 1945. Wendell then served in the U.S. Navy from March, 1946 until December, 1947. On September 19, 1948, Wendell was united in marriage to Erma Thelke at Dows, Iowa. In 1954, Wendell established Larsen Electric Motor Service and operated the company until his retirement in 1994. Wendell was a member of St. Paul Lutheran Church where he served as an usher and was active in the men's Bible study. He was a member and past president of the Electrical Apparatus Service Association and was a past member of Rotary. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to St. Paul Lutheran Church and School or to Trinity Hospice.