Keith William Larson

Macken Funeral Home Memorial Photo
Date of Birth:
Wednesday, November 20, 1935
Date of Death:
Thursday, April 9, 2020
Age:
84 years old

Visitation

Date: Thursday October 08, 2020
Time: 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Location: River Park Chapel at Macken Funeral Home [ view map ]

Second Visitation

Date: Friday October 09, 2020
Time: 9:30 am - 10:30 am

Location: Church of the Resurrection Catholic Church [ view map ]

Memorial Mass

Date: Friday October 09, 2020
Time: 10:30 am

Location: Church of the Resurrection Catholic Church [ view map ]

Burial

Location: Calvary Cemetery [ view map ]

Macken Funeral Home Memorial Photo
Date of Birth:
Wednesday, November 20, 1935
Date of Death:
Thursday, April 9, 2020
Age:
84 years old
Macken Funeral Home Memorial Photo
Date of Birth:
Wednesday, November 20, 1935
Date of Death:
Thursday, April 9, 2020
Age:
84 years old

Keith William Larson

Keith William Larson, age 84, passed away of dementia on April 9th, 2020 at Three Links Care Center in Northfield, MN.

Keith was born in Osage, Iowa to Reuben and Myrtle (Rundquist) Larson, on November 20, 1935. He graduated from Thompson High School in 1953. He served in the US Air Force from 1953-1957. He earned his B.S. from the University of Northern Iowa 1962, and later received his Masters of Education from Winona State University (MN).

He proudly taught mathematics at John Marshall High School in Rochester, MN from 1966-1996. He was the assistant hockey coach for his first 5 years at JM, and earned the nickname “Puck.” He started the Sharp Shop at Graham Arena with Chris Christopherson, and coached youth hockey for many years. He also pulled the Puppet Wagon for the Rochester Parks and Recreation Summer program for years.

Keith was a member of St. Francis, St. Pius, and The Church of the Resurrection in Rochester, MN, and served as a member of the Parish Council and Eucharistic Minister at St. Pius. He was a Eucharistic Minister at Resurrection, he also belonged to the Knights of Columbus.

Keith is survived by his wife, Janice (Jan) Ridenour Larson; children, Brian (Michelle) Larson of Rochester, MN, Amy Ridenour of Alexandria, MN, Sarah (Jim) Hall of Rochester, MN; 10 grandchildren, Nathan Larson, Zachary Larson, Hannah Larson, Rachel Larson, Baihly Styer, Caleb Styer, Tanner Hall, McKenzie Hall, Brianna Hall, Alexander Hall; and 3 great grandchildren, Paisley Styer, Blake Larson, and Aiden Styer. He was preceded in death by his parents, brother Stanton Larson, and his sister Valeria Cook.

The memorial Mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday, October 9th, 2020 at Resurrection Catholic Church, 1600 11th Ave SE, Rochester, MN 55904. Visitation will be held from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 8th, 2020 in the River Park Chapel at Macken Funeral Home and one hour prior to the Mass on Friday. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery.

Memorials are requested to The Gift of Life Transplant House or a charity of choice.

Condolences

The family of Keith William Larson has received the following condolences.

My deepest sympathies to the Larson Family,


Keith was such a fun guy to work with at the Rec. Center.


He had a great sense of humor.


 


Stephanie (Block) Hilleshiem

Dear Jan and Family, I didn’t have the pleasure of knowing Keith during his JM years, but reading the other messages left here has given me a pretty good picture of a good man who had a large impact on many students and others.


I have enjoyed serving with Keith as a eucharistic minister at Resurrection.  What a gentle, genuine soul!


 


Denise Kelly

So sorry for your loss of a loved one, I have missed seeing Keith, always cheer ful and always time to to talk.


God Bless you all!


Bob & Sharyn Voss

Mr. Larson was one of my favorite teachers at JM and I thank him for being such a great educator. I believe I studied math in college because of him.


He was funny but also so patient with our questions. I can picture him drawing a perfect circle on the chalk board and teaching a song to remember a math concept.


My condolences. 

Dear Larson Family,


Having spent nearly a quarter-century at JMHS I had the opportunity to meet and ENJOY some absolutely wonderful people.


Keith William Larson was one of those "top shelf" kind of people. He always had a greeting for me and a WIDE smile to boot. Even after he retired he would


make it a point to greet me..in Rochester or some other city in Minnesota..when I happened to see him.


As I move along in life, I hope and pray that someday I will have a chance to see Keith. I am certain he's in God's company.


Blessing to all of you. Your Keith was a SOLID GOLD guy!


Patrick Byron

Keith will be missed by his fellow Brother's  with the Knights. I had called him every year that I was coordinating the Tootsie Roll campaign for the Knights of Columbus  benefiting the  kids with intellectual disabilities.  Keith would always stand up to the plate and volunteer not only his shift and the one after if no one showed up.  He never complained Rain or shine  Keith would be there and some years it was downright cold. I enjoyed our talks as we volunteered for other events as well never heard him say a bad word about anyone nor complain.


Although we we're not in contact for the past two years or so ,I will sincerely miss him. Keith was a true gem, he is definitely in heaven.


God Bless Keith Larson


Kind Regards


 


Kevin Furr

Dear Jan and family, 


The world lost a kind and gentle soul with Puck’s passing.  He was always tolerant, even-tempered and kind to others. 
I will admit to hanging the nickname “Puck”  on him.  Here’s the story as I can recall it.  It would have been November, 1966 when we had our first hockey practice of the year at Mayo Civic Arena, very early in the morning.  Coach Sack introduced  Keith as our new assistant coach.  Mr. Sack said Keith wasn’t very experienced in hockey but was willing to learn, and part of our jobs was to help Keith learn about hockey fundamentals.  Keith was just learning how to skate at the time.  I asked him if he’d played hockey before and he replied “no, I’m not sure I even know what a puck is”. I told him I had a way of him remembering what a puck is, and that was to call him “Puck”.  I used that nickname frequently with my teammates and it stuck.  I personally think he liked the name!


He also grew to love hockey as a sport.  He was, simply put, a good man. 


Karl

Dear Larson Family, 


As you know better than any of us, your Dad was a kind and sweet man. I got to know him as a young kid because our family was good friends with the Sacks. In high school years, Keith and Gene Sack helped some of us Lourdes kids get hockey sticks at the same prices as the JM kids, which was great. 


I remember enjoying getting my skates sharpened by Keith at Graham Arena. He always seemed to enjoy visiting with kids from all of the schools. In recent years I saw Keith and Jan at the State Hockey Tournament, where as I recall they would stay at the hotel across the street for the weekend.   Keith would joke that “this is as wild as it gets these days” when my brothers and I would visit with him & Jan at the X  


Jan and family, you are in my thoughts and prayers as you mourn the loss and celebrate the life of this good man  


 

Another legend has left us.  So sorry to hear of Mr. Larson's passing.  I will never forget his overwhelming love and support of JMHS.  He brought out the best in everyone.  God bless to all who loved and cherished him.  He loved life, kids and all that was good.  

   I had Mr. Larson for two semesters of geometry and one semester of pre-calculus. I remember he had this saying in big block latters: Math is Not a Spectator Sport". Writing proofs in geometry was not my strong point. He helped me with that. As the class got to more applied math, I was better.  His classes helped prepare a student for college. His classes were not easy. When I got an A my final semester in pre-calculus from him, I really felt I had accomplished something. I know many of his students felt the same way. He was a great teacher. Thank you Mr. Larson.


 

Dear Larson family, 


We have such fond memories of Keith!  At the last JM Football game Dad and I went to we sat with him, he was a great friend to Dad and such a wonderful happy presence to all of us! 


Our deepest condolences, 


Laura and Mary 

Thank you Mr Larson! You made math fun!!!! Condolences to your family!

My sincerest sympathies to the Larson family. Enjoyed my time playing and working with "Puck''. Also my love of mathematics was fostered under Keith. My you be comforted in the knowledge that I had a greater love of math after having Keith as a teacher and mentor.


Brian Nordine