Obituary of Joyce Rockne Larson

Joyce Rockne Larson (1928-2019)

Joyce Rockne Larson passed away in the early hours of Sunday December 15^th 2019 at Fairview Southdale Hospital after a short illness.  She was preceded in death by her parents HB and Sarah Rockne; her husband Walter Larson, who died in 1986; her sisters Ruth and Ariel; and her brothers Hubert, Donald, Henry “Hank,” and Bruce.  She is survived by her sister Carol of Rochester, Minnesota; her son Jay Larson (Clare Jessop) of Canberra, Australia; her grandsons D’Arcy Jessop and Erik Larson; and numerous nieces, nephews, friends and loved ones.

Joyce Elva Rockne was born July 24^th 1928 in Willow River, Minnesota.  She was the sixth of eight children of Henry Bennett and Sarah Payne Rockne.  Her father was a Certified Public Accountant and banker, her mother was a high school English teacher.  At the time of Joyce’s birth, her father was working as a bank liquidator.  Her family moved repeatedly following her father’s work, residing in Willow River, Moose Lake, Frontenac, Lake City, and Rushford, before settling in Blooming Prairie when Joyce was ten years of age.  Joyce worked throughout her youth:  she babysat from age twelve; the summer she turned sixteen she worked in a canning factory in Owatonna; and the summer she turned seventeen she contributed to America’s war effort by fabricating artillery shells in an ordnance plant in Chicago.  She was one of the revelers at the V-J Day celebrations in Chicago.  She graduated from Blooming Prairie High School in 1946.  After initially studying Journalism at the University of Minnesota, she later graduated from that institution’s School of Nursing as a Registered Nurse.  She specialized in psychiatric nursing but later changed emphasis to pediatric nursing.

Joyce worked at Minneapolis General Hospital (now Hennepin County Medical Center).  It was during this time that she met her future husband Walter “Bud” Larson on a blind date.  Bud was a student at the Minneapolis School of Art (now MCAD) and an orderly and ambulance driver at General Hospital.  She recounted that first date by saying, “I agreed but wasn’t looking for anything serious, I had such a great time, and couldn’t remember a time I’d laughed so much.”  She and Bud married on June 30 1956. 

Joyce and Bud relocated to Des Moines, Iowa in late 1959.  Joyce worked at Lutheran Hospital there, rising to be in charge of multiple wards.  She left the nursing profession shortly before the birth of her only child, her son Jay Larson.

As with many women of her generation, she retreated from the workforce while raising her son.  After seventeen years, she returned to the workforce in a different profession—banking.  She worked at American federal Savings, rising to Loan Officer for their student loan portfolio, a role in which she organized a $100M collection of loans for subsequent securitization. She later worked for Meredith Publishing and retired in 1996.

Her husband Walt succumbed to lung cancer in 1986.  She did not remarry.

Upon retirement she relocated to Edina, Minnesota, where she resided for the remainder of her life.

She was a consummate story-teller, drawing from an enormous memory trove from her youth.  She was a master of balancing expecting the worst and hoping for the best.  She had a bright, sunny, and open-minded approach to everyone she met.  She kept up with the times more than most people of her generation.  She will be remembered dearly and sorely missed.