Jean Tucker Larson

Jean Tucker Larson of Newburyport, aged 96, passed away peacefully at her home on April 13th, surrounded by her loving family. Jean was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas on February 12th,1928. An only child, she grew up there during the Great Depression where her father JC (John) Tucker worked in the head office of the Cotton Belt Railroad. She did well in school and attended Stevens College in Columbia, MO. One evening by chance she was introduced to a young professor, Curt Larson, of Minneapolis, at the student social club. The introduction was kismet, and they were married the next year, and were soon off on an extended honeymoon in Great Britain and Europe. After Stevens, they lived in Granville, OH; Charlotte, NC; Mt. Carroll, IL; and Painesville, OH, before retiring in 1993 to Newburyport.

In addition to the demands of otherhood, Jean worked in college administration; rising, after
their children had grown, to become Registrar of Lake Erie College in Painesville, where she also earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting. Jean was at home in the outdoors, from the times she went hunting with her father through family vacations around the southwest and especially in Maine, to her love for birds and small creatures of the plowed field and well tended garden. She always enjoyed a good mystery story, and was an accomplished pianist. Many guests at the Larsons from those years will remember her fine singing voice.

Jean is predeceased by her husband Curtis. She is survived by her son Brond Larson and wife Evelyn Krieger (Sharon, Ma); and her daughter Marin Emery and husband Dwight Emery (Byfield MA and Sandwich, NH; 5 grandchildren; and 9 great-grandchildren.

Donations can be made to an Audubon Society, or to an art charity of your choosing, honoring her lifelong support of birds and painting. Memorial service will be private with burial at Belleville Cemetery.