Elizabeth (Baumgartner) Holzer Larsen

Click here to view Elizabeth's Liturgical Wake Service.

Click here to view Elizabeth's Mass of Christian Burial.

Elizabeth Holzer Larsen, 101, of Aberdeen, passed away Monday, August 19, 2019, at her home.

Mass of Christian burial will be 10:30 a.m., Wednesday, August 28, 2019, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 409 Third Avenue S.E., Aberdeen with Father Mark Lichter as celebrant.

Burial will take place at Sunset Memorial Gardens in Aberdeen. 

Schriver's Memorial Mortuary and Crematory, 414 Fifth Avenue N.W., Aberdeen is in charge of arrangements.

Visitation will be 5:30-7:00 p.m., Tuesday, August 27th, at the mortuary, with a liturgical wake service beginning at 7:00 p.m.  Visitation continues one hour prior to Mass at the church on Wednesday. 

Family and friends may sign Elizabeth’s online guestbook and also view her service via the live stream service link at www.schriversmemorial.com.

Elizabeth was born April 25, 1918, to Anton L. & Caecilia (Keller) Baumgartner in Strasburg, ND. She was the youngest of three children. Her mother passed away a few days after Elizabeth’s birth from child birth complications. Her father then married Magdalena Wagner. Magdalena loved and cared for Elizabeth, her brother Alois, and sister Mary, as if they were her own. Anton and Magdalena had eleven children.  Elizabeth and her 13 siblings grew up on the family farm near Strasburg in a three-bedroom sod house. She attended a nearby country school. 

Elizabeth and Joseph Holzer were united in marriage January 15, 1940, in Strasburg, N.D. They had their first three children while living in Strasburg. They moved to Aberdeen in 1945 and had seven more children. They shared 34 years together.  Joseph passed away in 1974. 

Elizabeth went to work in 1961 when her youngest child, Bobby, entered kindergarten. She worked at Tiffany Laundry for a short time; the laundry at St. Luke's Hospital until it closed in the late 1960s, and then in food services at Presentation College until she retired in 1979. 

Elizabeth married Wendell J. Larsen September 24, 1982. They enjoyed over 20 years together before Wendell passed away in 2003. 

In her younger years, Elizabeth enjoyed playing cards, crocheting, working in her garden, canning, cooking, and baking. She made the best Kuchen and German dishes, which made family gatherings so special. In her senior years, she enjoyed traveling around visiting her family and other relatives and was content just sitting home spending time with her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren. 

Elizabeth was a devoted wife and mother and nothing was more important to her than family. She treated all of her children as if each one was the most important to her. She was a storyteller and provided rich verbal history about her family, her upbringing, and her life experiences. She loved holding and rocking the grandchildren and entertained them by singing rhymes that she learned or made up when she was a child. She was also a bit of a tease and got great enjoyment out of teasing the children, young and old. She told them she was helping them build character and they would be stronger later in life because of her teasing. She has passed that strong character on to four generations. 

Grateful for having shared her life are her children:  James (Marilyn) Holzer, St. Louis Park, MN, Isabella Walters, Corona, CA, Mary Cose, Fargo, ND, and Sally (Joe) Hanson, Patricia Berger (Carl Denning) and Betty Even, all of Aberdeen; 15 grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren; and 5 great-great-grandchildren. 

Preceding her in death were both husbands, Joseph Holzer and Wendell Larsen; sons, Larry and Robert “Bobby” Holzer; daughters, Caecilia Zens and Joanne Schwan; granddaughter, Jennifer Walsh; parents, Anton and Caecilia Baumgartner; step-mother, Magdalena Baumgartner; brothers:   Alois, Clarence, Anton, Edward, and Andrew Baumgartner; and sisters:  Mary and Kathryn Bachmeier, Luella Wagner, Anna Goldade, and Celestine Klein. 

The family would like to thank the staff at Bethesda Home of Aberdeen for the loving care given to Elizabeth and the courtesies shown to the family while Elizabeth was at Bethesda and to the Avera Hospice team for the gentle, loving care shown to Elizabeth and the support given to her family while she was in their care. 

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