Obituary of Shirley Glynn Lockwood Larson

Singer, Artist Shirley Glynn Lockwood Larson, 91, died of cancer at her Bloomington home on August 16, 2017. Born on October 8, 1925, Shirley was adopted by James Henry and Edna May Lockwood of Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Topeka, Kansas. At a young age Shirley’s vocal talents were discovered, and she studied voice and had leading roles as a singer in school productions. Shirley then attended to Washburn University and the Kansas City Conservatory of Music, but left during World War II to work for the Manhattan Project, in personnel, first in Hanford, Washington, and then at Los Alamos, New Mexico. After the war Shirley married John B. Larson, and the couple had three children. Their first son, Mark was brain damaged at the age of ten months by his baby vaccines. Shirley and John later founded the Sioux Falls chapter of the Association for Retarded Children, and Shirley was its first president. Shirley and John later gave birth to twins, Valerie and Vance. Shirley was a lifelong soloist of opera and oratorio, in Nebraska, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Minnesota, and she taught voice for over twenty years. Shirley directed several choruses, including her own Lockwood Singers in Bloomington, Minnesota, and also sang in popular stage productions. As a corollary to her singing career, Shirley also worked in the field of beauty. In 1952 she won the title Mrs. South Dakota, and in the late 1950s she directed the Nancy Taylor division of the Minnesota School of Business. From 1968 to 1971 she was the Director of the Barbizon School of Modeling in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1960, when Shirley and her family moved to Concord, Massachusetts, they became active in the historic Unitarian First Parish Church, where Shirley directed the Children’s Choir and sang as a soloist. In 1972 when she and her husband returned to the Minneapolis area, Shirley founded and directed The Lockwood Singers in Bloomington. She was among the founders of the Bloomington Center for the Arts. Shirley also devoted many of her years in Bloomington to painting and other visual arts, signing her works Glynn Larson. In 1996, after their almost 50 years of marriage, Shirley’s husband John died of cancer in Bloomington. In 1998 Shirley joined the musical group, The New Fogey Follies, where she met WCCO weatherman, Bud Kraehling. Shirley and Bud later married, and traveled widely, including as hosts of cruises. After leaving The Follies, Shirley and Bud sang in many venues as “The Weatherman and the Singing Lady.” In 2004, Shirley won the title of Ms. Senior Minnesota. She also sang in several more singing groups and the production company, “Alive and Kicking.” Bud Kraehling died in 2015. Shirley is survived by her son Mark Larson of Richfield, Minnesota; her daughter Valerie Haynes of Gilbertsville, New York; her granddaughters Athena Samuel Beavers of Jackson, Mississippi, and Dana Flora Ladd of Los Angeles; and her great grandson, James Jacob Wells of Jackson, Mississippi. A reception celebrating Shirley’s life will be held at Fountain Lake in Bloomington on August 23rd at 1 p.m. Her family suggests that remembrances be in the form of donations to local charitable groups or local arts groups, in her name.