Let me introduce myself. My name is Lary S. Larson. I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, lived in California for about 8 years, and then moved to Raleigh, North Carolina. I graduated from high school in 1971, and then attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a Morehead Scholar. During that four years I was active in student government and dabbled in athletics. My major was in mathematics, with an emphasis in computer science. (For IT historians, the IBM System 360 was the state-of-the-art system at that time.) I graduated with a B.A. degree in mathematics in 1975, and received a membership in the Phi Beta Kappa honor fraternity.
After college graduation, I served as a foreign missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Helsinki, Finland, for two years. When I returned, I enrolled in law school at Brigham Young University in Provo. In 1980, I received my law degree and found a job with Hopkins, Roden, Crockett, Hansen & Hoopes in Idaho Falls. I became a partner there in 1985, and I have worked there ever since. My practice consists mainly of matters involving small businesses, estate planning and probate, taxation, commercial transactions, real estate transactions, employment matters, and litigation.
I have been involved with a number of non-profit organizations and activities. Those are listed in detail in my resume. I have also spoken to a lot of groups on legal subjects. Those speaking engagements are also described in more detail in my resume.
I met my wife, Louise Ann Lind, at BYU-Provo in 1977, and we were married on August 21, 1978. That date happens also to be her birthday and my mother’s birthday, so we believe it was meant to be. We had our oldest child, Carl, in Provo, but then we had four more children in Idaho Falls after we moved there in 1980. In 1987, we moved to a rental home in Ucon. Two years later, we bought a 39-acre farm from a friend just north of Ucon and built our current house. Our last two children, Jeana and Bruce, were born at Madison Memorial Hospital.
We have lived on this small working farm near Ucon, Idaho, since 1990. The farm gave our children an opportunity to learn hard work and responsibility. Now that our youngest child, Bruce, has left on his LDS mission, we have sold part of the land and turned the rest over to a tenant. Louise teaches fourth-graders at the Taylor’s Crossing Charter School in Idaho Falls. I practice law full time. We no longer want our summers to be tied up with tending crops. While we farmed, it was a blessing to us and our young children. Now, we feel that there are other young families who ought to have the same experience. So we’re “breaking up the farm.”
Involvement in the LDS church has been a central part of our lives all along. I have served in many callings, including Gospel Doctrine Class teacher, Ward Young Men’s President, Elders’ Quorum President, Seventy, Stake Mission President, Stake High Councilor, Bishop’s Counselor, and Bishop. Louise has also held many leadership and teaching positions, including President of the Primary, Young Women, and Relief Society in our ward.
I am not a total newcomer to politics, although this is my first time running for state office. I served as an elected member of the Ucon City Council from 1988 to 1990. I have also served as a precinct captain in Bonneville County, and as a delegate to the Idaho State Democratic Party Convention in 1994. I served as co-chairman of the Allred for Idaho Campaign in Bonneville County in 2010.
In my spare time, I enjoy backpacking, fly fishing, sports, astronomy and Mormon religious history, and I am an occasional collector of books, coins, rocks and astro-photography.
Our language training was at the LTM (Language Training Mission) at Ricks College in March and April, 1975, under Pres. Morton. That was my first introduction to Idaho.
I served as counselor to Bishop Boyd Wiese in the BYU-I 50th Ward, BYU-I 3rd Stake.
