The funeral for Ralph D. &8220;Red&8221; Larson will be held 10:30 a.m. Friday at Autumn Ridge Church in Rochester with the Rev. C. John Steer officiating. Military honors will be afforded at the church by the Rochester American Legion Post. Burial will be in Clarks Grove Cemetery. Visitation will be at Ranfranz and Vine Funeral Homes in Rochester on Thursday evening from 4 to 8 p.m. and at the church one hour before the service. Memorials are requested to Autumn Ridge Church. Mr. Larson of Rochester, died unexpectedly &8212; but peacefully &8212; in his sleep late Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007, at home.

Ralph Donald Larson, was born in Clarks Grove; he grew up on the family farm and graduated from Albert Lea High School at age 15 in 1940. Following his service in the U.S. Army in World War II, he returned to Clarks Grove, where on June 17, 1947, he married Eunice Hanson. Four children were born in Clarks Grove beginning in 1948, a fifth in Owatonna, where they moved in 1955, and a sixth in Rochester in 1962. Ralph began a 30-year career with I.B.M. in 1959, moved to Rochester in 1960 and immediately began attending the First Baptist Church (now Autumn Ridge), often singing solos, accompanied on piano by Eunice.

On June 18, 1997, Eunice passed away in Rochester, one day after their 50th anniversary. On Dec. 16, 1998, Ralph married Lorraine Wagoner in the old First Baptist Church in Rochester where she and her husband, Ray, who died the previous January, were longtime members and friends. She survives him.

He was a volunteer at the information desk at the Mayo Clinic&8217;s Charlton Building for the past five years and a member of the Rochester American Legion Post. In addition to his family and his faith, on which his life centered, he enjoyed watching and participating in a variety of sports, Southern Gospel Music, and with Lorraine maintained a beautiful yard festively decorated each Christmas.

Other survivors blessed by a life devoted to his family include his children, Barbara (Terry) Maack of Glendale, Ariz.; Kenneth (Jane Kammerman) of Minneapolis; Diane of St. Paul; Roger (Buffy) of St. Paul; Colleen (Mark) Johnson of Eden Prairie; Reid (Tammy) of Waterville, N.Y.; step daughters, Lois (Chris) Curran of Darien, Ill., and Denise &8220;DeeDee&8221; Loxten of Zimmerman; 13 grandchildren; four great-grandchildren and one sister, Avis (Eldert) DeRaad of Clarks Grove.

He was preceded in death by his parents (Albert and Helen), three brothers (Robert, Charles and John), his first wife, and one step son, Steve.

Interment will be at 3 p.m. Friday at the Clarks Grove Cemetery. A reception for family and friends will follow at First Baptist Church, Clarks Grove.