Photo by Jody Isaackson Volunteer Ardith Larsen of Lake Benton was recently named DCCW’s Woman of the Year. Larsen is not only active in church, but is the director of the community center noon meals. Larsen is pictured preparing a cart for a new volunteer at the community center to set tables for the noon meal.

LAKE BENTON — Ardith Larsen was passed over last year for the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women’s (DCCW) Woman of the Year Award, so she didn’t think that her name would be submitted again this year. But it was.

At the spring DCCW convention in Redwood Falls, Larsen was recognized for her 66 years (and counting) of service to her church, St. Genevieve in Lake Benton, and her community.

“I was a little bit surprised after I didn’t get it last year,” Larsen said Thursday. “I didn’t think they’d send it in again.

“The biggest surprise was that all eight of my kids were there that day,” she said, “and I didn’t know they’d be there. A couple of them, I was really surprised at.”

That’s because half of them live out-of-state as far away as Idaho.

Larsen has been very active in the local Council of Catholic Women, the DCCW and also attended one national CCW convention.

“The convention was in Grand Rapids, Michigan,” she said.

Larsen and her late husband, George, were married in 1952. That’s when she began her lifetime of volunteerism.

“My favorite position was that of sixth-grade (Christian education/Sunday school) teacher,” Larsen said. “I taught sixth grade for six years and learned right along with the kids.”

She said she enjoyed learning how the New Testament accounts fulfilled Old Testament prophecies.

Larsen also taught second grade for over 15 years, which was also rewarding in that the second-graders at St. Genevieve received their First Communion. She also taught confirmation class.

In relation to the Christian education teaching Larsen served a number of years as the director of education (Sunday school principal) for St. Genevieve’s and also for St. Dionysius in Tyler for a couple of years, when it was without a director of education, to order materials, find teachers and generally coordinate the program.

Currently, Larsen enjoys serving the CCW as the spirituality chairperson and manages the CCW prayer network. She has served the Region 3 Board as CCW president, vice president, past president and Reverence for Life chairperson. She has served her parish as CCW president, vice president and treasurer.

Larsen is also currently the leader of an adult Bible study class.

“We just finished a book on the ‘Seven Last Words of Christ,'” Larsen said. “We started it just before Lent, so it was a fitting topic.”

Larsen will soon be going to the church library to select another book for the upcoming adult Bible class season.

Local activities include serving on the education committee, parish council social concerns committee and the liturgy committee, spearheading the chicken dinner for the fall festival, funeral ministry and serving Holy Communion to shut-ins

Larsen leads the rosary before Mass and is a former cantor.

In the Lake Benton community, Larsen serves as director of the community center for noon meals and helps at the public library. She also volunteers at the nursing home and had done so for the bloodmobile as well.

“I was also a substitute teacher and helped out at school,” she said.

As much as she would have liked to see her children more active in church, they all moved away after high school graduation.

“The boys were Mass servers,” she said, “but they all got college degrees and moved away.”

Some of the Larsen children also started families. From their five sons and three daughters, Larsen is blessed with 17 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

When asked what or who inspired her to make such volunteer contributions, Larsen said her mother, the late Josephine “Josie” Carpenter, inspired her.

“She would say that ‘if there was something that needed doing,'” Larsen said, “‘even if you don’t like it, get it done right away and get it over with.'”

That’s not to say Larsen didn’t thoroughly enjoy her volunteer work, because she did. She just knows that the funny thing with volunteers, you have to ask them.