Natalia Jean Larkin

Natalia Jean Larkin ("Tally")
1929 ~ 2013
Natalia Jean Larkin, ("Tally"), 84, died July 23, 2013 at St. Al's Hospital in Boise, Idaho of age-related causes.
Tally was born Natalia Brown in Boise, Idaho, May 9, 1929 to Theresa and Russel Brown; she was the eldest of three sisters.
Tally was a precocious child and family lore has it that she read all the books in the McCall Public Library before leaving home. She attended McCall Elementary School and graduated from McCall High School in 1946 . Tally received a Bachelors degree in Psychology from the University of Idaho in 1950.
She married the love of her life, Joseph "Lindy" Larkin in 1951, and they moved to Moscow, Idaho, and then to Salt Lake City to pursue his education. During a stint in the mining town of Cinnabar, Lindy and Tally had a son, Ross, the first of six boys to come. Lindy took a teaching position in Elk River, and then accepted a "temporary'" position in Zaragoza, Spain in 1959. By this time, the family had grown to five, with the addition of sons Jim and Tom. Sons John, Steve, and Chris were born in Spain, where the family lived in Zaragoza, Seville, and Madrid.
Tally lived the next thirty years overseas in Spain, Turkey, Germany, Tokyo, Okinawa, and finally England, where Lindy retired from his career and they returned to Idaho in 1988, having seen all six boys through high school and out of the house.
Subsequent winters were spent in Boise at the "Grey House" and summers in their beloved "Blue House" in Donnelly, Idaho, built over many years by the family during summers home from overseas postings.
Tally was a gifted writer and researcher and wrote wonderful descriptive letters home about the family's travels, as well as articles for the Valley County History Project. She had a great eye for design and decorative arts and created elegant and welcoming interiors in each home she made around the world. She played piano and had a fine singing voice, performing in the Vandaleers choir in college.
The first order of business in any new home was getting a library card as she was a voracious reader, averaging at least one book every two days. Consequently she was incredibly well-read and conversant on practically any subject from Japanese ceramics to the Norman Conquest.
She spoke and read Spanish and French and enough Turkish to get by, as well as a little German and Japanese. She was talented in painting, sculpture, and architectural design. She sewed and gardened, and led the family in "Volksmarch" hikes in Germany. She had an abiding interest in history and genealogy and was a member of the Mayflower Society. Tally was an active member of the Long Valley Preservation Society and was engaged in writing a history of the Cascade Dam before she died.
Tally was kind and generous and loved by friends and family. She will be missed.
Natalia was preceded in death by her infant brother, Charles, her sister Patt of Phoenix, and her husband Lindy. She leaves her six sons and their wives; two grandchildren; and her sister, Nancy Tomlin, of Portland. Also her brother and sister-in-law, Rusty and Joy Larkin, of Cambridge, Idaho, and sister-in-law Bev Larkin of Boise.
The family would like to thank Bev Larkin and the Wisdom family for their ongoing kindness, and Trinity Home Care, Senior Solutions, and Dr. Lisa Kern for their care which went far beyond the simply professional.
Her ashes will be spread on West Mountain and interred at Meadows Valley Cemetery. A memorial gathering will be held at a later date. Donations can be made to the Boise Public Library or Long Valley Preservation Society, PO Box 444, Donnelly, Idaho 83615.