CHICAGO, IL (July 21, 2009) \u2013 Funeral services were held Monday for retired Evangelical Covenant Church missionary Gladys Larson, 86, who died Saturday.
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\nLarson was born April 18, 1923, in Chicago. She grew up attending Immanuel Covenant Church.<\/p>\n
She was a graduate of North Park Junior College and North Park Bible Institute, and earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in education from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.<\/p>\n
Larson, who served in the Department of World Mission, was commissioned as a missionary to Congo in 1947. She taught and directed schools in Gbado and Wasolo. After a full day of teaching in the regular classroom, she would teach girls reading, singing and sewing. The education for girls was important because families generally kept daughters out of school.<\/p>\n
Following the evacuation of missionaries from the country in 1960, Larson worked in the Department of World Mission offices until she retired in 1987.<\/p>\n
Memorials may be directed to the Department of World Mission, 5101 N. Francisco, Chicago, IL, 60625.<\/p>\n