Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Larsons, Thompsons enjoy friendship
From left to right, Don Larson, Shirley Larson, Claudia Thompson and Harold Thompson gather to shoot the breeze and reminisce on their friendship and romance at Serene Meadows in Davenport Tuesday, Feb. 7.
DAVENPORT - 88-year-old Don Larson arrived at Serene Meadows Assisted Living Center Tuesday, Feb. 7 and greeted his 87-year-old wife Shirley Larson with a couple smooches.
"You always look nice," Don told Shirley.
Shirley broke down into tears upon realizing she was being visited by her husband of 67 years and two of her best friends, Harold and Claudia Thompson.
And it just so happens that Harold, 87, and Claudia, 86, have also been married for 67 years.
"I found a little keeper," Don Larson said in a conversation with The Record-Times ahead of Valentine's Day, which is Tuesday, Feb. 14.
The Larsons and Thompsons have maintained happy marriages for almost 150 combined years, but there's also over 60 years of combined friendship the couples have shared with each other's families.
Don and Shirley Larson were the first couple to settle in Davenport. They moved here permanently in 1957 after Don got out of his service in the Army.
"I tell everybody we never had enough money to leave," Don Larson joked.
The Thompsons, meanwhile, moved here from Reardan around 1960, though Harold Thompson is a little fuzzy on the exact timeline.
"Nobody's going to know but us," Don Larson reassured Thompson with a smirk before shifting the conversation to the fact that his beloved bride was wearing his wedding ring on the "wrong hand."
Don Larson had various jobs in Davenport, but his longest stint was with the State Highway for 32 years. Shirley Larson worked at U.S. Bank for 32 years, while Harold Thompson retired from Washington Water Power (now Avista) in 1994. Claudia Thompson spent over 20 years working at the now defunct downtown bakery.
Both couples met in high school. Don Larson, who grew up in Harrington, said he and some friends came to Davenport one night "snooping around the girls" at a basketball game, when Shirley caught his eye.
The two "went together," as Don put it, for two years, before he went into the Army. He returned home briefly in 1954, and the two became engaged. They were married April 10, 1955 and have been wed ever since.
"Love was the secret to staying together," Shirley Larson said.
"Well, that helps," Don Larson responded.
Harold and Claudia Thompson, meanwhile, met at Reardan High School in 1951.
"In Reardan?" Davenport-fan Don Larson questioned with a jokingly disgusted tone.
Harold Thompson grew up north of Deep Creek, while Claudia grew up in town.
"We must've liked each other," Claudia Thompson said.
The Thompsons have one daughter, two grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. The Larsons have two children, five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Their children were how the two couples met and became fast friends. They spent many a summer day at Porcupine Bay camping, boating and waterskiing. Both had children become royalty on the local floats for Pioneer Days and the discontinued Lincoln County Fair Parade.
"I drove the damn thing for 10 years," Harold Thompson said, noting he rarely ever saw a parade himself because of his seat behind the float wheel.
Don Larson reassured Harold Thompson, reminding him that almost the whole city ends up in the parade.
"Being raised in such a small town, we would have a parade and no one was there to see it," he quipped.
Don and Harold also spent many hours fishing on Lake Roosevelt together.
"He knocked the big fish off my line all the time so he could say he caught the biggest fish," Harold Thompson said.
Don Larson still lives just a block away from the Thompsons. When he's not visiting Shirley at Serene Meadows, he still makes his way over to their coffee stash at least once a week.
"Sometimes I bring the Keurig cups myself," he reassured to make it clear he doesn't always just mooch off the Thompsons' stash. It's a way for the Larsons and Thompsons to maintain a 60-plus year friendship that doesn't show signs of slowing down, despite old age.
"We're just here for each other," Don Larson said.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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