Samuel Larson Obituary

Brother Samuel Leo Larson, age 92 of Beach, North Dakota passed away on Friday, June 13, 2025, at the Wibaux County Nursing Home in Wibaux, Montana. A Vigil Service will be held at 7:00 PM on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, at St. John's Catholic Church in Beach. Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10:30 AM on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, at St. John's Catholic Church with Father Nicholas Vetter officiating. Rite of committal will follow at a later date in the Salvatorian Cemetery in St. Nazianz, Wisconsin. Brother Samuel Larson SDS (birth name: Everett Leo) was born on February 2, 1933, in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. He was the only boy of the four children in the family of Paul and Albertine (Lesperance) Larson. He attended St. Mark's Grade School for eight years. He did not begin regular high school classes immediately after this, although he did earn his G.E.D. in later years. Rather, like a number of other young men at the time, he applied to be a Brother Candidate for the Salvatorians in nearby St. Nazianz. He was accepted into the program, moved to the Salvatorian Monastery in July 1948 for the next few months, and in March 1949, he began his Novitiate year in Menominee, Michigan. He made his profession of vows on March 19, 1950. It was discovered during those early years that Bro. Sam was good with tools and machinery, and for the next six years back in St. Nazianz, he learned the trades of being a boiler operator, carpenter, and electrical engineer. In the larger institutions and schools in which Salvatorians ministered during those years, skills such as these were essential for some community members to have. For two years, beginning in 1956, he was the boiler room operator and maintenance worker at Divine Savior Seminary in Lanham, Maryland, and then he did those same tasks at Trinity Prep Seminary in Sioux City, Iowa, from 1958 to 1961. One more place would need those skills from him, and he was asked to move to nearby Colfax to maintain the boiler operations and other janitorial duties at the Society's Novitiate. In 1967, the Novitiate moved from Colfax, but Bro. Sam remained there along with the former Novice Director until 1975, while the facility operated as an Interfaith Spiritual Center. It was during his years living and working in Colfax that Bro. Sam experienced a change within himself. In his earlier years of ministry in other Salvatorian institutions, those places were much larger and there were many more students who were busy with their classes and studies and extra-curricular activities. He never really got to know many of the students nor hear about their spiritual and vocational journeys; and with so many buildings to maintain on those campuses, he was always busy with his own work. But working at the Novitiate turned out to be a different sort of institution. The number of residents in Colfax was far fewer, and he got to know many of the novices by name and to hear the stories of their lives. Some of them were assigned to work with Bro. Sam side-by-side, and they would talk with him about their vocation and their spiritual lives. He was a good listener. The novices sometimes confided in him and asked for his advice, and he would freely share with them his own experiences and offer some insights that might help them in their spiritual journey. Over the years, several of the novices expressed their appreciation to Bro. Sam for listening to them and for giving them his advice. It was, they often told him, exactly what they needed to hear. After the Novitiate program moved from the facility and the Interfaith Spiritual Center opened, the experience for Bro. Sam was quite similar and, in some ways, even more enriching. He got to know many of the participants and hear of their faith journeys, and he was often asked to participate in the panel discussions where he could share his own story and talk about his own faith life. This was certainly a different sort of ministry than operating boilers and keeping facilities clean and in good working conditions. Bro. Sam found that he really enjoyed being a part of people's lives and their spiritual journeys. The Center closed in 1975, and the Provincial told Bro. Sam that, since many of our former schools had closed, there wasn't much work he could offer to him in his usual line of work. He also noted that he had heard how beneficial Bro. Sam was by his taking part in the Spirituality workshops that were given in Colfax and suggested it might be time for him to consider something in that kind of ministry. The Provincial offered him a few choices for consideration: there were two parishes in Milwaukee, that could use his services; there were openings for teaching religion classes in the Washington DC area; a chaplain in Phoenix was looking for people to help minister to patients who were sick and dying; and there was a faith-centered resident facility for at-risk youths in North Dakota that was looking for live-in counselors. Bro. Sam would later say, "It was like a bell rang inside my head when I heard that last option, as if God was telling me that this was the place where I was needed." After a sabbatical of several months in New Mexico to prepare for this kind of work, Bro. Sam was on his way to North Dakota. There he met with a fellow Salvatorian friend who introduced him to "Home on the Range" – a place that would become both his home and his ministry for years to come. He would later tell one writer, "I saw a spiritual starvation in those young people. God had made us all for goodness, and we needed to bring out that goodness in them." He taught them carpentry, but he also taught them about life and faith while they worked. The youths gravitated to Bro. Sam and the leaders took notice. His patience, gentleness, listening, and sharings brought the young people to his side, not just to work with him and learn new skills, but to learn how to live so faithfully and in such a peace-filled manner. The leaders asked him to take on the role of Assistant Chaplain. Bro. Sam was willing, but at the same time he knew he needed more training from the Church to do it properly. He enrolled in the program at nearby Sacred Heart Monastery to study Scriptures, Theology, and Canon Law. There he was advised to consider becoming a Permanent Deacon so that he could expand his role as Chaplain. He met several times with the local Bishop, and he was ordained a Deacon in May 1985. Bro. Sam hosted Spiritual Leadership Projects at the Home and conducted weekly prayer services for the youths. He was also certified as an Alcohol and Substance Abuse Counselor. Bro. Sam once told a reporter for the local Catholic newspaper, "Many of these youths come from dysfunctional homes. We can help them and teach them many things, and most of them will eventually become parents. What I want most for them is to be good moms and dads." In 1997, Bro. Sam suffered a heart attack and it slowed down his pace considerably. While he was resting and recovering, he learned to design beautiful hand-made greeting cards that he would send to people on birthdays or holidays, to encourage them when they needed it, to console them in time of loss, or simply to tell them that he was thinking about and praying for them. He retired in 2008, and in 2018, he moved into an Assisted Care facility in Wibaux, Montana, where he died peacefully on June 13, 2025, at the age of 92. Bro. Sam was preceded in death by his parents, his sisters Lucille (the late Eugene) Honzik-Larson, Ramona Boutwell-Larson, and JoAnn Larson-Carle. He is survived by his brother-in-law Thomas Boutwell, his nephews and nieces, as well as his brothers and sisters in the Salvatorian Family.
Silha Funeral Home of Beach has been entrusted with the arrangements.