Emily Eloise Larsen

MASON CITY - Emily Eloise (Barkema) Larsen, formerly of Mason City, died Tuesday (July 8, 2008) at the Clear Bridge Cottage in West St. Paul, Minn., at the age of 89 years, 6 months, 22 days.
A funeral service for Emily will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 12, at the Hogan-Bremer-Moore Colonial Chapel, 126 Third St. N.E., Mason City, with the Rev. Steve Hansen of Wesley United Methodist Church officiating. Burial will be in the Memorial Park Cemetery, Hwy 122 West, Mason City.
Visitation will be held one hour prior to service time on Saturday at the chapel.
Emily was born on Dec. 16, 1918, on a farm in Scott Township in Franklin County, rural Alexander, the third of seven children born to Charlie (Karl) and Helena (Jennie) (Gartz) Barkema. She was baptized on April 24, 1930, by the Rev. O.G. Poppen in Palsville, east of Belmond. She attended Pleasant Township No. 5 rural school, rural Belmond.
She was united in marriage to Wilbur Larsen on October 22, 1942, in St. Joseph, Mo. He preceded her in death in 1998.
Emily spent most of her life living on farms in Franklin and Cerro Gordo counties, retiring in Mason City where she resided until February 2002. Since then she lived in West St. Paul, Minn.
Emily was a very loving wife, mother, grandmother and sister, and will be greatly missed by her family and friends.
She was a member of Wesley United Methodist Church in Mason City.
Left to cherish her memory are her two daughters; Shirley (John) Kraft of Cottage Grove, Minn., and Barbara Larsen of Waterloo; five grandchildren; 11 greatgrandchildren; two sisters, Lois Schlichting of Cherokee, and Maurine VerHelst of Belmond; many nieces and nephews as well as other extended family members and friends.
She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Wilbur; her son, Charles; a sister, Eva; and three brothers: Edward, Lyle and Harold.
Hogan-Bremer-Moore Colonial Chapel, 641-423-2372, www.colonialchapels.com.