Don Larson

Don Larson 91, of Grover, passed away in his sleep on Jan. 17, 2011 at the Franklin County Medical Center in Preston, Idaho. His parents were Gustav and Lovisa Hepworth Larson also of Grover.

Don was born April 25, 1919 in Afton, during a nationwide Spanish Influenza epidemic. In the spring of 1919 people were still very nervous about the epidemic and his mother, Lovisa went to Afton to stay with her sister where they were quarantining all new mothers so the babies would not be exposed.

Don was the fourth child of seven brothers and sisters. Ruth, Muron "Doc", Iris, Don, Anis, Zola and Earl. He was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in an ice cold creek when he was eight years old. Don only attended school through the seventh grade. He talked his parents into letting him quit and started working for wages. Times were hard so the extra money in the family was very much appreciated. He broke horses, put up hay, herded cattle, he and his brother would take a team up the canyon and get ou logs and then sell them.

When he was about 17 years old he joined the Civillian Conservation Corps and he and a friend Wayne Eggleston were sent to Fox Park, west of Laramie. Their job was to cut, skin, and creosote poles used for telephone poles. He was paid $30 per month which $27.50 was sent home to his parents. After six months he got so homesick he wrote for money to come home and his Dad sent him $1. It wasn't enough for he and his friend to take the train to Cokeville so in the end they decided to hitch hike. Eventually someone picked them up and charged them 50 cents for the trouble of driving them to Grover. They got home with 50 cents of the original $1.

Don met Leone Stoker at a dance one night and they later married. Gayle was born January 1940 just as World War 2 was starting. Work was hard to come by so the family, along with his brother's family, went to Blackfoot, Idaho to pick potatoes. While there he was drafted into the Armed Services. His Son LaVal was born three days before he left for war. When he reported to the Induction Center there were three lines, Navy, Army and Air Force. The Navy line was the shortest so he got in that line. He was in the Navy for only a year when the war ended and most servicemen with families were sent home. He was Honorably Discharged in 1945. Don worked for the Fish and Wildlife as a trapper for a few years and also in the Sinclair Service Station for Marvin Sessions. They had moved to Afton and while living there they had another child, Vicky Lynn.

Don was an Afton Volunteer Fireman for two years.

In the 1950's they moved to Lyman and trapped coyotes that were killing sheep. Then Don went to work for the Game and Fish Department, He and Leone separated after 20 years of marriage and he later married Reba Taggart of Fairview. They never had any children. He was transferred to Laramie and then back to Jackson Hole. He retired in March of 1978 after 21 years with the Game and Fish Dept.

After retiring they bought a home in Grover and moved back to Star Valley.

Reba went to work for the Forest Service and during the summers they worked herding cattle for the Little Grey's Cattle Assoc., and also up Big Grey's River. They did this for 10 years. Don started growing his own garden and was the envy of the town. Reba worked for the Grover Water Company. Both of their health declined and in June of 2009 they both entered the FCMC in Preston, where they stayed until their deaths. Reba died Dec. 23, 2010 and Don followed his beloved wife three weeks later on Jan. 17, 2011. He was a lifelong Democrat.

Don is survived by his sister Mrs. Tom (Anis) Shippen; his brother Earl Larson; four children Gayle, LaVal, Vicky and Woody; 14 grandchildren, 17 great grandchildren and four great, great grandchildren.