The wonderful life of Miriam Royle Larsen was completed on December 11, 2010, when she passed away at the the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo, Utah, surrounded by loved ones.Miriam was born May 27, 1923, in Lehi, Utah, to James Freeman Royle and Lovinia McAllister Royle, the sixth of seven children. She developed a love of music early and performed in a lead role in a high school musical, The Pirates of Penzance. She also served an LDS mission in Texas during the final year of World War II. She worked for a time as secretary in Salt Lake, Berkeley, and Los Angeles. She married Dr. Alvin M. Larsen, DDS, her eternal sweetheart, in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple, on April 1, 1949. She was the devoted, loving, and supportive mother of four children: Marc, Sydney, Mirial, and Carolyn. She was an extraordinary homemaker who kept an immaculate home and welcomed many friends, acquaintances, and family members. She was active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout her life. She brightened the lives of many people with her vocal solos and her dedicated and creative labor as ward choir director over many years. She loved and lived her religion and served for many years in the Primary, Relief Society, and Sunday School. She was known by her friends as a sociable, friendly, and serviceable person. Even in her final months, though handicapped by hardness of hearing, macular degeneration, and limited mobility she reached out to others in friendship and strived to alleviate their loneliness. Throughout her life, she endured a number of difficult and long-lasting hardships but emerged as a cheerful, optimistic, giving person. The latest of these hardships was the loss of her husband and sweetheart of nearly 60 years. She described this as one of her most difficult trials. She was preceded by her husband, Alvin, and by many of her siblings and their spouses. These include Cleo and Cecil Webb, Homer and Emily Royle, Maymetta and Elden Johnson, Glen and June Royle, Robert Chatfield (the husband of Miriam's sister Josephine) and Richard MacAllister Royle, the last of whom died in infancy. She is survived by her sister, Josephine; her four children and their spouses (Marc and Crystal Larsen, Sydney and Geoff Germane, Mirial and Greg Burton, and Carolyn Larsen); 17 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren, and numerous in-laws whom she considers as dear as her own children and grandchildren. Miriam and her family also express gratitude and appreciation for the many friends and caregivers she had during the last years of her life at Courtyard at Jamestown Assisted Living Residence and by those at First Choice Home Health Care, both in Provo, Utah. A funeral service will be held at the Edgemont 6th Ward, 4065 North Timpview Drive, Provo, Utah, on Friday, December 17, 2010, at 11 a.m. The service will be preceded by a viewing from 9:30-10:30 a.m. Interment will be at the Lehi City Cemetery. Condolences may be sent to the family at: www.walkerfamilymortuary.com


Published in Deseret News on December 15, 2010