Vicki (Delia) Larson

Vicki Larson, 90 of Evansville died Wednesday, August 19, 2020, at home surrounded by her family.

Delia Loretta Vick was born in Madison, WI to Della Yjortland Vick and Homer Vick on June 8, 1930. She died on August 19, 2020, at her daughter and son-in-law’s home on the farm outside Evansville, MN. She spent her childhood in McFarland, WI where her father was a banker and her mother a teacher. Loretta (as her family called her) was a fiercely independent and smart young girl who even at an early age began perfecting the art of a fall and broke a few bones after adventures with her brother, Buddy.  After high school, she attended St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN. One of her roommates was Kit Larson, who invited her to her home in Story City IA, where she met Kit’s brother, a tall, handsome lawyer whom she agreed to marry on December 27, 1953, in McFarland, WI. After college, she taught English and Special Education. Vicki longed to be a mother, and her dreams came true when in 1965 George and Vicki adopted their son, John Matthew Larson, and brought him home when he was four days old. Soon after this, the family moved to Saint Paul, MN to pursue a life in ministry. In 1971, they had a baby girl named Naomi Joy Larson. They then moved to Brazil to begin their biggest adventure as Lutheran missionaries in Novo Hamburgo, Brazil. Both loved Brazil and their joint ministry with the people there; Vicki led a large youth group in faith and community. In 1976, they moved back to the U.S. when George accepted a call to ministry in Evansville, Minnesota. Vicki was very involved both at Faith and Christina Lake churches and made many wonderful friends through service and Bible study, using her considerable creativity and humor in all she did. As a family, we loved our yearly camping trips to northern Minnesota, often to Lake of the Isles at Scenic State Park. Vicki was the chief cook and bottle washer and we will always see her in our memory standing over the camp stove with a spatula flipping pancakes or sitting in a lawn chair gazing out at the lake or reading. Vicki and her friends started more than one consignment shop in Evansville, for which she made many homemade items to sell. Later, she taught Spanish at Evansville and Brandon schools and was a beloved teacher to many. After retirement, Vicki took up quilting, painting, and art with a passion and was involved with both the Evansville Art Center, and Art of the Lakes in Battle Lake, and we have a large body of her work to treasure. In her later years, Vicki also enjoyed many adventures with her older sister Fran; they would often get in trouble for being too loud and laughing too much when together. Vicki’s passion for art lived in every aspect of her life and enriched us all. She was also an avid reader and particularly loved to collect and read mystery novels. Vicki enjoyed travel, and one of her greatest adventures was her epic hike with her daughter, Naomi, on the Camino Portuguese. Vicki walked 110 miles over tough terrain in Portugal and Spain at 81 years old! Vicki also had a wonderful sense of humor and kept us all laughing over the years, as did her capacity for falling frequently, often with no injuries to show. The light of her life in her last few years was her grandson, Georgie, with whom she was very close. There is no possible way to express how much she is loved, and how terribly she will be missed by her family and friends. She made the mundane in life beautiful, fun, and better by just being there. She accepted you as you were and enveloped you in love. When you were down, she would unfailingly make you laugh. Her artistic appreciation of nature and her lust for life made you look at the world with new eyes. She loved us so well. She is preceded in death by her beloved husband, George Larson, her mother and father, Della and Homer Vick, and her sister and brother-in-law Frances and Walter Balcken. She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law John and Beth Larson and daughter and son-in-law Naomi and Tim Anderson, her dear grandchildren, Hannah Joy Larson Zody, Matthew Reynolds Larson, Thomas Gerald Anderson, George Daniel Anderson, her brother and sister-in-law Homer (Buddy) and Elaine Vick, and her several nieces and nephews whom she loved very much.

Vicki’s family would like to express our deepest gratitude to the Evansville Care Campus staff and Douglas County Hospice for the excellent and loving care given to her over the last few years and here at home in her last days. Although she shone so bright for others, she had a lifelong struggle with depression and so, in lieu of flowers or monetary gifts to family, memorial gifts to the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation are preferred: https://www.bbrfoundation.org/. Thank you.

Graveside Service: 11 AM, Friday, August 28, 2020, at Mound Grove Cemetery in Evansville with Rev. Marcus Kunz officiating.  Please bring your lawn chair and wear your mask.

Funeral Home: Glende-Nilson of Evansville.  Condolences:GlendeNilson.Com

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