Hi everyone! 

First of all, I invite you to unmute your browser as there is a custom playlist that begins when the site opens that I uploaded to share with everyone.  It's a bunch of songs that remind us of her.

Thank you so much for visiting this site. Through opportunities like this, Lori can live on forever, through our memories. Please contribute anything and everything to the stories section, no filters needed as we all know she lived a life full of variety.  I am Lyndsay, Lori's only daughter.  It has taken me almost five months to get this up.  To all who missed Mom's service and have been waiting for this, I apologize for the wait.  What follows is the eulogy I unfortunately had the honor of writing and reading at her service. 

Lori Larson was born Lori Kay Wood at Rose Memorial Hospital in Denver, Colorado on May 2nd, 1958.  She was a Taurus and you would probably have heard about that or figured it out (if you knew even the tiniest bit about astrology) within hours of meeting her.  She was all the qualities of that sign personified perfectly: a lover of all things beautiful and pleasing to the senses, possessed an impeccable green thumb, as maternal as a woman could be (toward everyone), stubborn, jealous, loyal and a total bull in a china shop so to speak.  She was a clutz.  I don’t write these things as judgements because they’re all traits she shared with me.  Maybe because I am her daughter and that is natural or maybe because I am a Taurus too.  But if you were blessed to know her as we all were – you know these things to be true.  Above all of aforementioned traits, she was loving.  So loving.  Even to a fault at times, even if it hurt her, she couldn’t help but love.  It was not what she did, but who she was.  My mom was love and unless you posed a threat to the well being of those she held most dear, you got to be a recipient of that love from the first time you met her until she took her last breath.

Lori was born the third child to Patti and Wayne Wood.  Her older siblings are Dan and Cindy and after Lori their baby brother Ryan was born to complete the family. They lived in Denver until she was ten years old.  She enjoyed elementary school and a lot of close times with cousins, school friends and family until they moved to Milpitas, California in 1968.  Once in California, she made tons of friends easily – people she remained in touch with until her last days.  She twirled baton and attended middle and high school there.  From what I read in her yearbooks she was quite popular, especially with the boys!  She always radiated a free spirited type of love.  Wherever she went, she made friends with such ease.  Lori had quite a refined taste in music – Rock 'n Roll to be specific.  She loved following her favorite bands and even befriended some very big names in the music scene during the 60’s and 70’s.  While living at home she did really well in school and cooked the family dinners for her siblings, as both of her parents worked very hard to provide a comfortable life for their family.  This was a contribution she was proud to give.

She graduated from Samuel Ayer High School in 1976.  Upon leaving home, she had some wild times – but who didn’t in the 70’s?  Mom was a true free spirit, a butterfly incarnate and she left pieces of love from her heart everywhere she ventured.  She got to experience living on both US coasts and had a few serious relationships before meeting her first husband, my dad Kenny, in the late 70’s. They loved each other very much and while their relationship was good, they shared a lot of love and pushed each other to be the best versions of themselves.  They spent their first years together around different areas of Northern California. 

In June, 1983 she woke one morning and swore she just immediately knew she was pregnant.  She was right. I was born in April, 1984.  At that time, they “grew up,” so to speak, beginning to really become adults.  Lori and Ken made a home for themselves in Lewiston, ID. where they remained until their divorce in 1991.  While in Lewiston, Lori completed a college degree in Business Management, whilst working both as a babysitter and a retail consultant for Shopko.  She did all of this with a toddler (whom she transitioned from crib to a regular bed during finals) and one family car.  She was what we refer to in today’s slang as a "boss" . . .  she slayed!  In her downtime she cultivated the most beautiful garden I have ever seen: full of sunflowers that far overreached my height, tomatoes, onions, carrots, all sorts of zucchini, squash and peppers too.  She was gifted with a super green thumb.

After that, in 1991, we moved to California and built very close relationships with our neighbors while enjoying the beauty of living in the middle of the Redwoods in the Santa Cruz area.  A couple of years passed and in 1993 we moved to New Mexico to be closer to my grandparents.  We lived in their guest house and she began working for Walmart.  When her parents sold their house to move back to Colorado, we got our own apartment and she began working for Hertz rental car.  The biggest perk to that job was all the goodies you got to keep from the lost and found.  It’s no secret that my mom loved collecting nice things –  she just loved that aspect about her job. She worked various other jobs over the years that followed our time in Albuquerque; some she loved, some not so much, but at each one she made great friends: a trend that followed through her entire life.

In 1998 we followed my grandparents to Denver, CO. Mom’s first job there was in the bakery at Safeway where she bonded very well with her boss.  She went on to work for a couple of different airlines as a baggage handler – a tough broad in more ways than one.  In 2002 we ended up working at the same restaurant together, an odd situation but I was then eighteen and at that point we had become more like sisters over the years, so it wasn’t all that awkward.  It was while working at the restaurant that her (even our) life(‘ves) would change forever, as fate saw fit to have Stephen hired by the same restaurant.  We all got along, as one often observes in most restaurant environments, but those two had eyes for each other really early on – even though she denied it ‘til she couldn’t any longer. 

Stephen invited us both over for Thanksgiving dinner in 2002.  We knew he was a professionally trained chef but we had no idea what was in store for us when it came to his cooking.  Those that haven't experienced a meal cooked by Steve are definitely missing out.  He is an incredible, very well trained chef.  I asked Mom a number of times if this was a “date” or just a "Friendsgiving" type deal. . . she adamantly denied anything more than a meal would be occurring.  After feasting on the most exquisite Thanksgiving spread I had ever enjoyed, I stepped outside for a minute.  When I came back in, let’s just say my suspicions proved accurate and they were engaged in more than just friendly conversation.  That was my que to excuse myself.  What an anniversary!  A day dedicated to celebrating gratitude became the day she had finally connected with the one man that was worthy of the over pouring love she had to share with the world and so deserved to share with one special person.

I’ve said it many times and I will always stand by it, Steve was the best thing that ever happened to Mom and I am so glad she was able to experience a love so real, in her lifetime.  The years ahead held a lot of adventures for them – ups and down – but always so very full of love.  As Mom’s health declined, Steve stood by her with a fierce protectiveness and devotion that assured me she was taken care of, no matter what.  They got to share something that many people never find.  The two of them found themselves settled into the quaint, comfortable and loving town of Redcliff, in the Colorado mountains.  Mom made many friends, as per her usual - friends that refer to her, still, as their angel. 

In 2014 I was able to give her the most precious gift I could – a granddaughter.  Mom was the first person to hold Piper and I never saw either of them more excited than they were when they were spending time together.  Becoming a mother opened a door for me to become closer to mom than I ever knew possible and watching her love my daughter with such purity and joy was truly a gift.  She loved being a Mimi and she was a wonderful one!  In 2017 Lori became a wife again, when she and Steve romantically eloped in Las Vegas.  One of her best friends, Dannette was the only attendee.  She got to be present for both of Lori's weddings!  Mom loved everyone, as I've said, but she had a handful of girlfriends through her life that always stood by her, no matter how long they went without talking.  She appreciated and shared stories about them, regularly.

Lori was only with us for sixty years. She lived the hell out of those years, though. I will forever remember and miss hearing the amazing stories of her time with rock stars, her travels, her loves and her growth.  We are all blessed to have known someone that loved so deeply and truly. May she rest well and watch over us forever.