Obituary of Betty Barbro Johnson Larson

Betty Barbro Johnson Larson was born on August 31, 1936,  in Britton, South  Dakota to Per and Anna Johnson. She was the third of three daughters born to these Swedish immigrants. One sister, Inga, was born in Sweden and was eleven years older than Betty; and the other sister, Julia, was five years older. Betty’s parents farmed in Rutland, North Dakota. 

 In her autobiography, Betty wrote “the summer of my sixth birthday we moved to Enumclaw, Washington. The move was precipitated by the ‘drought’ and several years of poor crops in the Midwest. My father also had carpenter skills, and for this reason moved his family to Washington, where such work was available.” Betty went on to write: “ I can remember the transition from wood stove to electric stove, and the acquisition of our  first telephone, and even how wonderful it was to have a bathtub instead of a little tub  in the kitchen! I was a happy child, with no major problems or unhappy childhood memories. I was instilled with a strong sense of parental love, and, in turn, respect for my parents. Our home was filled with evidence of a Swedish heritage—foods, traditions, even language. Both my parents spoke Swedish as frequently as English, so we children grew up knowing two languages, an advantage I did not appreciate fully until later in life.” 

Betty attended all twelve years of public school in Enumclaw. She commented, “I loved school, and I loved my teachers. I often played ‘school’, by myself or with friends, and I was always ‘the teacher.” During her school years, Betty was in  several clubs and organizations, had a role in the Senior Class play, represented her school at Evergreen Girls’ State, worked part-time at a soda fountain, and also participated in church activities such as Luther League, teaching Sunday School, and singing in the choir.  The high school faculty chose her to be a commencement speaker and she received a Community Scholarship to attend Pacific Lutheran College. Betty wrote of her high school years: “The most traumatic event of my teenage years was the death of my older sister, who died of nephritis. She was a nurse, and undoubtedly influenced me a great deal in my decision to become a nurse.” Betty graduated from Enumclaw High School in 1954. 

In the fall of 1954 Betty entered Pacific Lutheran College, where she received a BS degree in Nursing in 1958. Two of her four years were spent at Emanuel Hospital in Portland, Oregon, in the clinical division of the nursing program.  She wrote that she looked back on those years as being filled “with hard work and study, and lots of responsibility.” An additional two years in the nursing program were spent at Pacific Lutheran College. 

It was at Pacific Lutheran that Betty met her future husband, Ed, to whom she was married for over 61 years. Betty and Ed became engaged midway through Betty’s nursing studies and she had to promise her parents that “she would finish her nursing studies before getting married.” They were married on May, 30, 1958; two days later Betty received her B.S. degree from Pacific Lutheran. 

After their marriage Betty and Ed lived in Minnesota, Colorado, and Oregon, before settling in Lakewood in 1970. During Ed’s internship years in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, their oldest daughter, Karin, was born.  Betty worked as a nurse at the local hospital. When Ed was campus pastor at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado, son Michael was born. Once again, Betty continued her nursing career during the two years in Fort Collins. Then, during the time when Ed became campus pastor at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon, daughter Julianne was born. During the seven years Betty and Ed lived in Corvallis Betty worked in the local hospital, in the university’s student, and as office nurse for a pair of local doctors. In all of these locales Betty also found time to become involved in the activities of the churches that were associated with Ed’s positions. 

In 1970 Betty and Ed moved to Tacoma, where Ed began a new position at Pacific Lutheran University. For 44 years Betty and Ed lived in Lakewood. From 1970 until 1996, when Betty retired, Betty worked either as a nurse or a school teacher. After moving to the Tacoma area Betty initially worked part-time as a general duty nurse at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital. She then worked for a local surgeon for awhile before returning to Mary Bridge to work in a community education program which took her into the community and the public schools. While at Mary Bridge she developed and presented programs to a variety of community groups and varying ages of children in the area of poison prevention, childhood safety, and orientation to hospitalization. She continued to work on her School Nurse Certification because, as she put it, “I enjoyed the teaching aspect of a ‘wellness oriented’ approach to nursing.”  She was hired as a school nurse for five years at Jason Lee Junior High and Grant Elementary. In 1977, Betty began a Master’s Program at PLU in the area of Guidance, to better equip herself for a job in the schools. She wrote once, “I continued in the course work at PLU and I began to realize that my greatest satisfactions and alignments professionally, came in the area of education rather than nursing.”  In the spring of 1980 she took a leave of absence from her job in order to go to school full time to get a teaching certificate. From 1981 to 1996 Betty taught 3rd grade, first at Dash Point Elementary and finally at Browns Point Elementary. 

During the time she and Ed lived in Lakewood, Betty found time for numerous extracurricular activities. Foremost for Betty was Christ Lutheran Church, where she taught confirmation classes; was instrumental in the organizing of the Mother-Daughter Tea program; and participated in an ongoing prayer group. Betty and Ed were also a part of a “Bike Group”, which included Tom and Linda Gilmer, Jim and Cris Capelli, Gary and Marilyn Noyer, and Bruce and Shirley Johnson. Over a number of years this group visited and biked around numerous locales from Vancouver, BC to Florence, Oregon. (Not biking to those places, but biking around them!).   

It goes without saying to anyone who knew Betty, she was tremendously proud of her Swedish ancestry. When many of her friends were taking trips and vacation to Mexico and Hawaii, Betty and Ed took numerous trips to Sweden and Norway to visit relatives and friends.  In addition, Betty spent a number of years working with the Sankta Lucia program at Pacific Lutheran University, another Swedish activity (where there is now a scholarship in her name). For five years she worked a volunteer for American-Scandinavian Student Exchange, and she found host parents for over 50 international students. 

There was a period of about 10 years or so where Betty and Lori Steen, in addition to whatever else they were doing, staged sales of Scandinavian items in their homes or at festivals. It was often joked that whenever anyone looked up “non-profit” in the dictionary, there was a photo of Betty and Lori next to their ‘Specially Scandinavian” banner.  

Betty was preceded in death by her father Per, her mother Anna, and her sister Inga.  Betty is survived by her husband, Ed;  three children,  Karin Stuen (Paul); Mike Larson(Beco); and Julianne Fagerstrom (Tom);  grandchildren Krista Hoppen (Dale), Seth and Philip Stuen; Mack, Charlie, and Inga Larson; Erik and Britt Fagerstrom; and great-grandsons Bodhi and Beckett Hoppen. Betty is also survived by her sister, Julia Watness, aniece and four nephews. Our special thanks to the nursing staff at the Tacoma Lutheran Retirement Community. In lieu of flowers memorials may be given to Christ Lutheran Church, PLU’s Santa Lucia program, or the Tacoma  Lutheran Retirement Community.  A memorial service and celebration of Betty’s life is scheduled for August 3rd at 2:00 p.m. at Christ Lutheran Church, 8211 112th St SW in Lakewood.

 In lieu of flowers memorial gifts may be made to Christ Lutheran Church, 8211 112th St SW, Lakewood, WA 98498 ; Pacific Lutheran University, Sankta Lucia Program, Office of Advancement, Tacoma, WA 98447  or Tacoma Lutheran Retirement Community, 1301 Highland Parkway, Tacoma, WA 98406