John's Life Story given at his funeral by his father

John was born August 25, 1978. He was the fourth child in the family, with 2 brothers and a sister waiting for him at home. He came home in a new AMC Pacer. John was a good and healthy baby. In a year and two months, John’s sister Becky was born and John left the baby stage and became a faithful brother who always watched out for his younger siblings.

John showed quickly that he was on who liked action. His first word was not momma or dada, but BATMAN.

It did not take the AMC Pacer long before it had problems. The hatch back broke and fell and hit John on the forehead and cut his forehead. I took him to get stitches at the emergency center. The doctor told him it would hurt, but to stay still John got the shot in the forehead without moving or crying. I have never seen a child any braver that John.

John loved to play with other children. When John was four we went as a family down to San Carlos Mexico and saw a friend of mine. Her husband and children spoke only Spanish, so our children could not communicate with their children. However John started playing with Gaby and asked to stay. He stayed most of the day and was sad to go. We were told John communicated fine and even picked up some Spanish words. John always seemed to pick up languages quickly, as he spoke English, Spanish and Tongan and some Arabic.

When we would have family prayers at night and it was John’s turn to say the prayer, he would bless the Boy Scouts, because he so loved scouting.

When John got in school, he was tested for project potential and was found that he was brilliant. He loved his friends in school and did not enjoy school work, as he would rather play with his friends.

John had a fascination for anything that had wheels. He loved his big wheel. When his older brothers cub scout pack had a bike rodeo, John loved riding his big wheel and going so fast. He loved riding bikes and then roller blades. John one day started digging a hole in the back yard. He then rode his bike through it. Then he filled it with water and rode his bike through it. Then he got his brothers and friends excited about riding their bikes through it. Soon they were all digging and we had by evening a BMX course with water hazards in our large back yard. This was quite a surprise to me when I saw it, but John was so proud of it.

John was good in sports because he was very coordinated. He played little league baseball and soccer. However he loved roller blading even more.

John loved doing things with his friend Jimmy Kaufhold, such as building forts, doing spook houses, playing Ninja Turtles and being part of an exclusive Ninja club organized by his older brother Ben.

John loved the outdoors. He loved going on father and son’s campouts and going on scout outings. John loved being courageous when he would go on outings. He especially thought it was great jumping off cliffs or dams. Once David saw him jump off seven springs dam with his arm in a cast.

John excelled at scouting. He quickly earned his merit badges and did his eagle project. He chose a project to fix up and paint a blighted house in a very tough neighborhood in south Phoenix. The brothers of the owner had guns out protecting us as the evening started. John hated writing up his project, but with the encouragement of Dave Marcotte, did it and received the highest rank of Eagle Scout. I am very proud of John.

John was known for his creative dating and many girls enjoyed being with him. Becky’s friends all wanted to meet and get to know John.

John was amazingly quick. When we were preparing for Ben’s reception in S. Dakota, John was about 12 feet above on a truss, hanging lights. As Becky was near an industrial fan, her hair was caught in the exposed fan belt and pulley. It was pulling her hair out, but John jumped down and ran across the room and unplugged the fan, as I was next to Becky and had not even realized the problem. John saved Becky from having terrible consequences that could have happened, had John not been so quick. I was amazed at John’s abilities, which were way beyond mine.

When John was a senior, it was hard to decide what he wanted to become. He lost interest in school until he could decide what to do. He went and worked with his Uncle Phil Larson, where he decided to go on a mission. He also worked in Alaska with his cousins, where he learned to work long hard hours. John did not mind hard work. John finished high school with a GED and went onto college.

John received a mission call to go to Sydney, Australia. He enjoyed his mission, especially when the mission was missing a Tongan speaking elder, so John became a Tongan speaking elder. He learned the language, love the culture because it was what was like, a very giving and loving people. The Tongans felt John was too skinny, so they fed him a lot and he went from about 140 to near 200 pounds on his mission. He also said that while playing rugby with the Tongans he had never run so fast as to have a bunch of big Tongans chase a skinny white boy. John had a great love for Tongans, in fact, when he came back from his mission, when Tongans were around, John would always stop and talk to them in their native language. John even cam home from his mission in a lava-lava.

John married his sweet heart that waited for him from his mission, Kristi Kay Haggard. They had two children, first Megan Marie Larson and then Joshua John Larson. Because John did so well in college, he was admitted to BYU where he studied Civil Engineering for two years. Then he came back to Arizona and attended ASU. He also worked at RBF in engineering and found he did not like it, because it was quite boring. He enjoyed plumbing, so he took classes, joined the union, and did a lot of the very specialized plumbing at Intel. As the depression came, he found that there were fewer jobs for plumbers. His friend Jason talked to him about joining the military with him. John who always believed in honor and country and loved scouting and was so alert and quick, the Army seemed a great match. John was already 28 years old and would be 29 while in basic training, but he got in shape and did it. He loved the Army and we are so proud of our Army son. Laura and David took his daughter, Megan, to Ft. Benning, GA to see him graduate from basic training. He then was transferred to Ft. Hood and trained to go to Iraq. John excelled in his training and loved his Company B. Just before he deployed, I had a talk to present to the scouts, so I called John and asked him about how he felt about going to Iraq. He told me the US is the greatest country on earth and has freedom that needs to be defended. He said he and all those in his company were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for the county, but that they would look out for each others back and do their best in Iraq. John served well in Iraq. He learned some Arabic so he could speak to the people. He also became the driver for the commander while in Iraq. John came home a hero in our eyes and well decorated with honors.

John had a grenade bounce off his flax jacket when he was atop of an armored carrier and then hit the pavement and cause a crater in the road. He also had someone that out ranked him that asked for his place. Then in two miles the person in John’s spot was hit be mortar fire and lost three limbs. John was truly protected in Iraq. John’s cousin, who he respected so much, Mike Weipert, compared John to the attributes of Captain Moroni.

As John was finishing his tour of duty, he met a Lila, who he fell in love with. We heard less and less from John, and he spent many hours talking and communicating with Lila.

Then on December 29 when he came home for leave he married Lila. Lila says John was an amazing husband that made her heart smile. She also said “I am extremely proud of him and I am truly lucky to be his wife.

Unfortunately, John was killed February 9, 2010. He is now in a better place.

As stated in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. As a father who loved his son, John, I appreciate the sacrifice that God the Father and His Son made so that we can have everlasting life. I look forward to reuniting with John and hearing all the things he is now doing.