Janis L Larson

Janis (Jan) Louise Larson (nee James) passed away on August, 25th, 2024. She was 80 years old.

Visitation will be on Wednesday, August 28, 2024 from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm at Trinity Lutheran Church, Sleepy Eye, MN and will continue on Thursday from 10:00 am until 11:00 am at  Trinity Lutheran Church. The service will be held at the Trinity Lutheran Church on Thursday, August 29, 2024 at 11:00 am. The clergy will be Pastor Grant Fischer. Interment will be at a later date.

Arrangements are with the Sturm Funeral Home in Springfield, MN.  Online condolences may be left for the family at www.sturmfh.com.

Jan was born at home on the farm in rural Fennimore Township, Grant County, Wisconsin. Jan attended elementary school in a one-room schoolhouse until the family moved into Fennimore. She begged her parents for a piano as a child and later began playing french horn becoming very proficient on both instruments.  After graduating high school, Jan went to Luther College to pursue her music studies. During the mid-point of her freshman year, she was placed in the Luther Band where she met a senior music education major named Lewis Larson.  They were married in the fall of 1962 and began their lives together. Short teaching assignments for Lewis led them to Postville, IA where Eric was born, and then to Boscobel, WI where James was born.  In 1966, they made their final move to Springfield, MN, where Lewis was the band director at Springfield High School for 37 years and Tracey and Chad were added to the family.

Jan was a loving mother, wife, and friend and used her musical talents to enrich so many lives in the community. She taught piano lessons for 25 years, was a church organist at St. John’s Lutheran Church and later at Trinity Lutheran in Sleepy Eye and also volunteered to play for services at St. John’s Nursing Home. While Lewis was band director, Jan would play up to 35+ piano accompaniments during solo and small ensemble contest and accompanied hundreds of students through the years. Jan was also a member of church circle and volunteer groups and was an avid quilter who donated many beautiful quilts to be auctioned for Green Lake Bible Camp.

From 1983 on, Jan and Lewis ran their fundraising company, North Star Sales, which led Jan to high schools all over the state of Minnesota.  She had an incredible memory of the highways and county roads in the state and could tell you how to get just about anywhere without consulting a map. She was a life-long lover of reading and rarely missed her weekly trip to the public library. She made the best potato salad and pumpkin pies around and was asked to bring them to every family gathering.  She loved living in her “little house on the prairie,” took many incredible cruises, trips and trail rides on horseback with Lewis.  Jan could make a grand entrance leading with her beautiful smile, loved people and had the gift of gab, and was incredibly proud of her children and grandchildren. Jan loved the life she lived and moved through each day with a profound sense of purpose and contentment. The family is so grateful to St. John’s Nursing Home for taking such great care of her during her final months.

She is survived by her soulmate, best friend and husband of 61 years, Lewis Larson, her four children Eric (Jill) Larson, James (Patti) Larson, Tracey (Al) Engleman, Chad (Jodi) Larson, Grandchildren Ellen (Nick) Ciarimboli, Molly (Jessup) Bonnstetter, Riley Larson, Chloe Larson, Lily Larson, Jada Gorman, Becca Engleman and Jenna Engleman, and great grandchildren Georgia Ciarimboli, Otis Ciarimboli, and Barbara Bonnstetter, Sister Kathy (Dick Bilof), brother Harlow (Marcene) James, and sister-in-law Donna James.  She will be greeted in heaven by her parents, Margaret and Harold James, and her brother Richard James.