Larsen, Dorothy G. (aka Ma)

Age 75 of Andover went to be with the Lord on September 26, 2020 after a brief battle with Lymphoma.  She was born on January 27, 1945 in Fosston, MN to Royal & Olive Nystrom, the youngest of seven children.  She always joked that being the last one born she ended up with all the left over parts.  In the late 1950s, they moved to Minneapolis where Dorothy graduated from St. Anthony High School.  After obtaining her cosmetology license, she worked at The Looking Glass at Dayton's Brookdale until she found her greatest occupation as a stay-at-home mom.

On June 8, 1968 she married her best friend, Merwyn.  She always joked that she finally gave into Mer's persistence (aka charm) after asking her on a numerous dates when she finally agreed to their first date to see The Sound of Music.  After coming home from the date, her mom asked how it went and she said it was fine but she would never marry that man.

Ma's pride and joy came from her three kids (which she always said came from her husband's "first" marriage) along with her seven grandchildren.  She enjoyed spending time with her family camping, golfing, watching movies and of course a rowdy game of Uno or anything else as long as she was with all of them.

Ma was fortunate to have traveled all around the world and especially loved traveling with their dear friends, Barb & Neil.  One of the trips they enjoyed the most was New Zealand being crammed into a small 20 ft motorhome with the four of them traveling the countryside.

Ma had many hobbies and talents.  She enjoyed slot machines & scratch off lottery tickets, and of course she was a pro at shopping.  She also enjoyed traveling, camping, snowmobiling, 4-wheeling, painting, drawing, golfing, playing Sudoku, knitting, crocheting, and especially she loved her beautiful flower gardens.   And anyone that knew Ma knew she was full of spunk and loved to ask "Have you seen my broken fingernail?"  Not a day would go by where her broken fingernail wasn't shown to someone, if not numerous times.

She is survived by her husband, Mer (of 52+ years); children Mark, Jennifer (Lance) Jensen, Richard (Jessica); grandkids, Eric, Lucas, Reed, Tyler, Mackenzie, Megan and Cierra; best friend, Barbara (Neil) Strickland; siblings, Kenneth (Carole) Nystrom and Joanne Blanchar; along with a host of nieces, nephews and friends.   She was preceded in death by her parents, Royal & Olive Nystrom; siblings, Keith, Phyllis, Richard, and Rodger; daughter-in-law Tiffany Larsen; parents-in-law, Orville & Violet Larsen; in-laws, Larry Thielhorn, Laurel (Loretta) Larsen, and Howard Blanchar.

A private family service will be held at this time with a Celebration of Dorothy's Life to be held on Saturday, June 19, 2021.  In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Parkinson's Foundation or the CJD Foundation.