Lynn Allison (Wood) Larson

     Lynn Allison (Wood) Larson, 87, a resident of Gooding, passed away on Tuesday, July 19, 2022 at the North Canyon Medical Center in Gooding.

     Lynn Allison Wood was born on March 22, 1935 to Harvey Edgar Wood and Carrie Lane (Powell) Wood in Twin Falls, Idaho.  The family lived in Kimberly, Idaho.  When Lynn was 7 1/2, they moved to Gooding where Lynn entered the third grade.  She graduated from Gooding High School in 1953.  She attended one year at the University of Idaho.

     She showed both artistic and musical abilities at an early age, drawing and painting at age four, despite being born with very poor eyesight that could not be completely corrected.  She began music lessons later on, completing eight years piano, three years of organ, and two years of vocal.  She was a vocal soloist with the mixed choirs in Gooding High School and also in the Gooding United Methodist Church Choir and on call for various clubs in the community.

     She began to do contract works on human and animal portraitures while still in High School.  Due to scarlet fever in the first grade that damaged her heart, her physical activities were limited but was allowed to ride horses.

     Upon graduation from High School, she attended the University of Idaho at Moscow, Idaho for one year majoring in Art and Music, taking private lessons in organ and voice plus an art class in life drawings.

     While at the university, she met the love of her life and married Donald Keith Larson, a veteran of the Korean War era on September 5, 1954 at the Gooding United Methodist Church.  The newly married couple returned to Moscow, Idaho where Don continued his schooling and Lynn went to work for a local photography studio retouching photo negatives and coloring the finished print.

     Their first child, a daughter - Angela, was born in January 1959.  In the summer of 1959, she moved with her husband to Parsons, Kansas since he had completed a Master’s Degree (Agricultural Economics) and took a job with the Agriculture Census.  In the spring of 1962 Lynn moved with her husband to Bozeman, Montana, where Don continued his schooling at Montana State University and worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.  Their second child, a son - Gregory, was born in September 1962.  At these two locations, Lynn became a soloist with the church choirs, joined several music groups and sang at various social clubs.  While in Bozeman she acquired the autoharp that she then used to accompany herself when she sang.

     Once again Lynn was on the move as her husband was transferred to Washington, D.C. where they bought a home in Clinton, Maryland.  Once settled in Maryland, Lynn taught art and craft classes out of a local photographic studio.  She also taught art classes for Prince George’s Recreation Dept. and traveled to various art and craft shows during the years in Maryland.

     Then her singing was brought to an abrupt halt when she became very anemic.  While the treatment saved her life, the side effect was she could no longer sing which was a devastating blow.  She didn’t sing for over a year.  The doctor didn’t know if her voice would ever return.  Later after the treatments took effect, she very slowly began to sing again.  But her vocal range, six notes from the top and four notes from the bottom were gone forever.  She could no longer (as the choir members said) sit in the middle and sing both parts.  She had to completely reorganize her music to the middle range and some of it she would never sing again.

     Lynn soon received from her family what she considered to be a guardian angel.  That angel was an 1100-pound furry nosed quarter horse mare with the registered name “Miss Angel Baby”.  Lynn had always wanted to show in horse shows but had never gotten a chance to do so as a child. Lynn had only been working three weeks with “Angel” when she entered her first horse show and came home with several ribbons.  At the end of the year, she and “Angel” received the Reserve Champion award.  Over the next four years, they received the Grand Champion award.

     In August 1990, Lynn and her husband moved in with Lynn’s dad – Harvey Wood.  However, Harvey had a stroke and they continued to live with him so he could remain in his home.  Lynn once more joined the Gooding United Methodist Church Choir and sang solos there and at various clubs, accompanying herself on the autoharp.

     In 2001, Lynn had back surgery caused by arthritis diagnosed when she was 13.  She had to stop riding her beloved horse, but has continued to sing and do her art work.  Her arthritis continued to progress causing her to walk with a cane and eventually put her in a wheel chair in 2010.  Lynn has continued to take awards at county fairs in art and was included in Who’s Who in American Women.

     A celebration of life will be held on Friday, August 26, 2022 at 10:00 am at Demaray Funeral Service – Gooding Chapel.  Services will conclude at the chapel.

     Cremation arrangements are under the care and direction of Demaray Funeral Service.

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