Simonsen, Lillian Foster Larson

Lillian Foster Larson Simonsen (1897-1979) was wife to the athlete Clinton Larson and mother to Clinton F. Larson, the poet.

Lillian Foster was born on May 13, 1897 in Manassa, Colorado to Henry Foster and Emily Forbes Foster. She was the oldest of eight children. The Foster family moved to Northern Utah when Lillian was young, and she was raised in Vernal and American Fork, Utah. She attended Brigham Young University where she met Clinton Larson, whom she married on September 26, 1918. The couple was sealed in the Salt Lake temple in December of the same year. Lillian and Clinton had one child together, Clinton Foster Larson, born on September 22, 1919. After a rough, stressful marriage, Lillian and Clinton were officially divorced on October 24, 1946. They made attempts to re-marry, but Clinton remarried other women twice before his death in 1952. Lillian married a longtime friend, Carl M. Simonsen on January 22, 1971, many years after Clinton Larson’s death. Lillian worked for many years as a hospital switchboard operator at both Veteran’s and St. Mark’s hospital. She retired from St. Mark’s after 20 years of work. Lillian passed away on October 3, 1979.

From the guide to the Lillian Foster Larson Simonsen papers, 1816-1988, (L. Tom Perry Special Collections)