The Richard J. and Irma E. Larson Scholarship Endowment Fund was established to help Aurora area high school graduates attend colleges and universities to further their education in the fields of law, teaching, Christian ministry and agriculture.
Richard, better known as Dick, and Irma are both graduates of Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. Dick received his Juris Doctor Degree from the University of Illinois College of Law. Irma earned her Master’s Degree from Northern Illinois University.
Dick practiced law in Aurora for 31 years and assumed the bench in the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit in February 1991. He retired as Circuit Judge in November 2008. Irma taught English at schools in Iowa and Minnesota and one year at West Aurora High School. After raising her children, she taught visually impaired for 18 years.
Dick and Irma have two children, Mark, a stockbroker, married to Lynn, and Anne, a lawyer, married to Joshua Vincent. Dick and Irma have two grandsons, Christopher and Benjamin Larson.
Dick served on the boards of Rush Copley Medical Center, the Association for Individual Development, the Aurora Area United Way (now known as the Fox Valley United Way), Mental Health & Mental Retardation, Inc., Prestbury Citizens Association, and the Wartburg College Alumni Association. He is a member of the Batavia Rotary Club and active in Rotary District 6440.
Irma has served on several community boards, including Child Welfare, the Aurora YWCA, P.E.O. Chapter DD, and The Mid-West Early American Pressed Glass Club. After retirement, she volunteered as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for nine years.
Dick and Irma are active members of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, Aurora.
