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Marilyn R. Larsen. Ms. Larsen succumbed to cartiac failure in her La Veta Drive home on 29 July 2003. Born in Chicago, Illinois in 1930, she came to New Mexico with her family in 1943. Her father, Ralph Larsen had been hired by Dr. Robert Oppenheimer to work at Los Alamos on the development and construction of the first atomic bombs. She has recounted those days of having a passport to get into Los Alamos, living behind barbed wire topped fences, and attending a one room school with the children of renowned scientists. After the war, they moved to Albuqerque, where she graduated from Albuquerque High School and the University of New Mexico. She moved to New York City and worked in the offices of the National Container Corporation for some years. While there, she met and married Harry Wagner, a graduate student at Columbia University. The marriage was unsuccessful and after a divorce, she returned to Albuquerque, attained her Master's Degree at UNM, and taught in the Albuquerque Public School system. She later moved to Wisconsin and taught in the Brown Deer Schools until her retirement. Her teaching abilities were lauded by school administrators and her students. After her retirement, she continued living in the Milwaukee area making dried plant decorations and jewelry, and in the year 2000, moved back to Albuquerque. In her younger years in Albuquerque, with the tutorage of her father, she became a skilled handgun and long gun shooter, winning many competitions. She was a staunch and outspoken defender of the Second Amendment Right, a Life Member of the National Rifle Association, and a member of Mensa International. Ms. Larsen is survived by her sister, Eileen (Larsen) Johnson of Sandia Park; and her brother, Tom Larsen of Tijeras.
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