Larkin B. Person

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Larkin Benjamin Person, 88, of rural Sioux Falls, passed away on August 29, 2012, at the Sanford USD Medical Center in Sioux Falls. Funeral services will begin at 11:00 A.M. Saturday, September 1, 2012, at Benton Lutheran Church, rural Crooks. Visitation with the family present will be from 5-7:00 P.M. Friday at the church.

Larkin was born September 3, 1923, at Sioux Falls. He grew up in the Crooks area and graduated from Lyons High School in 1941. Larkin married Ella Leila Johnson of rural Crooks, at Benton Lutheran Church on October 18, 1945. They farmed with his parents in the Crooks and Ellis area before moving to their own farm near Sioux Falls in the early 1950’s. Together, they operated a high school senior and wedding photography business while raising hogs, sheep, oats, corn, alfalfa, and soybeans on their farm. He also managed the camera department at K-Mart South from 1963 to 1969. Larkin never really retired, taking pictures into his 80’s and doing the combine harvest in the fall of 2011. After Ella died at Thanksgiving of 2011, Larkin moved to Ellis to live with his son. After a hernia operation in May of 2012, Larkin lived at Bethany Lutheran Home in Sioux Falls.

Larkin was a lifelong member of Benton Lutheran, serving on the church council, Men in Mission, and the couples club. He belonged to the Camera Club, Imagemasters, the Professional Photographers of America, Hayward PTA, Farmers Union, and the Wayne Township Volunteer Fire Department. He loved taking his wife to town for a chocolate shake, relaxing in the big chair, having cats on his lap, reading the newspaper, and watching TV with Ella by his side.

Larkin is survived by a son, Larry, of Ellis; two brothers-in-law: Glenn Johnson, of Sioux Falls, and Clifford (Darlene) Johnson, of Sioux Falls; special friends, Leonard and Lori Gracjzyk, of Sioux Falls; nieces, nephews, and other relatives, friends, and neighbors. He was preceded in death by his parents, Harry Benjamin and Amy Cecelia (Gilseth) Person; his wife, Ella; uncles: Otto & Alfred Person, Steven & Owen Gilseth; and aunts: Bessie Gilseth and Julia Berg.