Wealthy Mae Larson May 23, 1917 - July 24, 2016

Wealthy Mae Larson died on Sunday morning, July 24, at the home of her daughter, Linda Brooksby Lounsbury, in Sisters. Her four children: Linda, Sue, Dave and Jeff were with her. She lived to the age of 99 years.

Mae was born on May 23, 1917, in Samaria, Idaho, to Henry Waldemar and Wealthy May Gibbons Andersen. Her parents, homesteaders in Idaho at the time of her birth, were affected by the Spanish Flu of 1918-1919, so they could not harvest their crops to make the payment on their farm. Henry Waldemar (Walt) left Idaho and traveled in the Northwest for a time looking for work. Finding work in the lumber camps in Oregon, the family relocated. 

For a while at age 5, Mae lived with her father and mother and her two younger brothers Jack and Ray in a tent with a wooden floor in a lumber camp in Bates, Oregon.

Walt, her father, was killed in October of 1923 by a falling tree, while working as a scaler for the Oregon Lumber Company.

Mae grew up in Baker, Oregon, attending school there and making many life-long friends. She married William (Bill) Larson, also from Baker, on December 24, 1939. Bill served in the Army Air Corps as a pilot during the Second World War and Mae traveled to live near him at army bases in Arizona and California.

After the war, Eugene, Oregon was their home for many years. Bill Larson owned Union Oil service stations while Mae put her energy and talents into making a home and raising their four children. The family enjoyed camping and fishing trips to the many lakes and rivers in Oregon and often visited the Oregon Coast. 

For the past five years Mae has resided at the Good Samaritan Retirement Center in Eugene where she appreciated the care of the staff and made several dear friends.

Her family includes: her four children, her brother Jack, 16 grandchildren, and 34 great-grandchildren. A recent family reunion in Eugene attended by family members from across the country was a celebration of Mae's life and stands as her memorial. She was loved by many and will be sorely missed.