John William Larsen

A funeral for John William Larsen, 72, a four-year Minden resident, will be 2 p.m. Friday at Bethlehem Lutheran Church.

Mr. Larsen died Oct. 1, 2006, in Reno, of cancer. He was born May 1, 1934, at Columbia Hospital in Seattle, to William John Larsen and Gladys Finley Larsen.

He graduated from Lincoln High School in Seattle.

He married Joann Virginia Barker on Jan. 14, 1956.

He worked at Vesojas Marine Supply in Seattle until 1961, before working as a petroleum equipment sales representative in the San Francisco Bay area and a sales representative for Bennett Pump in Los Angeles. In 1972, he opened his own petroleum-distribution business, Petroleum Dynamics Inc. which he owned and operated for more than 20 years. In Minden, Mr. Larsen worked at Kick Start until two weeks prior to his death.

He served in the U.S. Navy in Korea as a medical corpsman from 1951-55.

He was a church elder for more than 25 years in two denominations, the Presbyterian Church in America and the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod. He was an elder at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Carson City, a Sunday school teacher and served on the board of the Sierra Lutheran High School. He was of Norwegian descent, and enjoyed celebrating his heritage on May 17, Norway's National Day.

Among his survivors are his wife of 50 years; son, Stephen Larsen of Hanlon, Wash.; daughters Mary Jo Wohlers of Springfield, Va., and Sarah Crawford of Canyon Country, Calif.; 13 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

Memorial donations may be made to Sierra Lutheran High School, 1837 Mountain St., Carson City, NV 89703.

Capitol City Cremation is in charge of arrangements.