Irene E. Larson

Irene E. Larson, age 102, of Ohio, died Thursday, February 1, 2024 at Heritage Square in Dixon.

          Irene was born October 13, 1921 in East Grove Township, rural Ohio, IL, the daughter of Edward and Amelia (Albrecht) Larson.  She attended rural grade schools and graduated from Ohio High School in 1939.  After deciding to become a nurse, she graduated from Peoria Methodist School of Nursing.  Irene enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps as a Second Lieutenant and served in England and Germany.  She served at 6th Field Hospital and 306 Station Hospital in England.  The nurses were transported across France in unheated railroad cars.  For warmth, they were told to put on all the clothes they could.  They worked at the 98th General Hospital in Munich which had been a Catholic Hospital run by nuns and taken over by the Americans.  When their unit was no longer needed there, they received orders to go the Pacific Theater.  While waiting for the ship to go the Pacific, the news came that the Japanese had surrendered.

 Irene worked as a private duty nurse, then at KSB for many years becoming Director of Nursing, and later at Dixon Health Care Center.  She was a member of Red Oak Church in Walnut, the Bureau County Genealogy Society, Lee County Genealogy Society, and Lee County Homemakers Association. 

          She is survived by her daughter, Diana (Bernard) Vering of Dixon; two granddaughters, Becky (Jon) Sipes of Plainfield and Katherine (Matt) Hennemann of Franksville, WI; and five great grandchildren, Natalie, Nikolas, Lila, Sam, and Anne.

          She was preceded in death by her parents and one sister, Ethel Grossman.

          A visitation will be held on Friday, February 9, 2024 from 4:00 – 7:00 PM at the Garland Funeral Home in Walnut.  The funeral will be Saturday, February 10, 2024 at 11:00 AM at Red Oak Church in Walnut with Reverend Kelly McCune officiating.  Burial will follow at Union Cemetery in Ohio.

          A memorial has been established.

          Online condolences may be sent to garlandfuneralhomes.com.

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