Doris Larsen's Obituary
Remembering mom is an amazing journey. From crying her way out of several speeding tickets, to producing, narrating and setting to music a slide show of her 1965 Holy Land tour (juggling antiquated microphone, record stylus and slide changer with two year old Greg fidgeting in the corner) mom was in constant motion. Though seriously challenged in the kitchen, resulting in her sneaking food in from next door to impress her fiancé’s visiting parents long ago, mom had no problem agreeing to play the huge historical four manual pipe organ in the San Francisco Civic Auditorium for five nights running, for 5,000 attendees, at the 1975 national convention of the American Lutheran Church Women. We were awestruck! Mom is a devout Lutheran and proud Norwegian, having traced her family lineage back to the Reformation. A distinguished graduate of Saint Olaf College, mom also studied at the University of Oslo, and graduated cum laude in 1945 with majors in English and Spanish.
Dorie held a variety of jobs after college, most notably as “Resettlement Secretary” for the National Lutheran Council’s effort to relocate displaced persons from the camps in Germany by convincing church congregations to become family sponsors. By then she had also met the love of her life, Morton Christian (aka “Bud”) Larsen who she married in Salt Lake City on June 17, 1949. Shortly after, Dorie and Bud moved to Montana where sons Dave and Rick were born, and several years later, the young family moved to Northern California where they ended up in Danville, which was then a small farm town at the end of a two-lane highway.
Despite her preference for urban surrounds, Dorie enjoyed her years in Danville, giving birth to son Greg, watching the boys grow up, and occasionally tolerating boat outings on the Sacramento Delta. Dorie served as organist at the Methodist Church in Alamo for twenty years, while also maintaining her membership at Our Savior’s Lutheran in Lafayette. She gave piano lessons at home, and traveled abroad, in addition to substitute teaching. In the 1970’s Dorie’s mother Agnes moved in just as Bud’s health began to fail, opening up another chapter in her life, that of caregiver.
Eventually, at eighty years old, Dorie decided to move to St. Paul’s Towers in Oakland where she occupied a 16th story apartment complete with theatre organ and electric piano, for the last fifteen years! While at St. Paul’s, mom was an active member of Resurrection Lutheran Church and enjoyed symphonies, musicals and the local speaker’s bureau. After a 2014 trip to the Rosie the Riveter Museum in Richmond, to relive the “war effort” including her father’s part with Ford Motor Company in producing tanks and jeeps, Mom wrote and published a 350 page autobiography entitled “Letters of a Lifetime” which is the best Christmas gift she ever gave. Mom passed away on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020. She is survived by sons Dave, Rick and Greg, their spouses Kathleen, Patricia and Kym, and her grandsons Brian and Jeffrey. Donations in Dorie’s name to Habitat for Humanity are welcome.
What’s your fondest memory of Doris?
What’s a lesson you learned from Doris?
Share a story where Doris' kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with Doris you’ll never forget.
How did Doris make you smile?