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Roger Larson. By Brian Reetz
Some people call it character building. While most children in the 21st Century with their iPods, HDTVs and Wii’s will never really experience it, maybe all of them should. Because whatever it is in the water outside of Wausa, Nebraska, we should all travel there by plane, train or automobile and have a quick drink.
Living with no running water or electricity in a rented, country house gives you a different perspective on the way things could and should be. It gives one a mindset of unequaled proportions. Maybe that is why 82-year-old Roger Larson is a one-of-a-kind gem. The longtime Lincolnite picked himself up by his bootstraps, came to the big city and has accomplished great things in both the world of business and the realm of philanthropy.
But in 1925, what was a boy from Wausa inspired to do? Larson admits that he asked himself that question numerous times at a young age and it was pretty bleak. “Frankly, we were very poor. I was growing up in the midst of the worst depression that we had for centuries and in the midst of the worst drought that we’ve had for a long, long time. Most of our neighbors were in the same condition so it didn’t occur to a little kid that we were in dire straits. I remember thinking I’m probably just going to end up being a poor farmer. There weren’t any other visions on the horizon.”
Larson’s family moved to Dakota City, Neb. in 1940 and he graduated from South Sioux City in 1942. His parents would constantly remind him, his two brothers and his sister that going to college was a very important step in life as both of his parents, Ted and Alveda, had some higher education. But then war interrupted everyone’s life. For Larson, it took the inhibited kid from small-town Nebraska on a worldly journey that opened his eyes wider. He actually enlisted in the Air Force before he was old enough because his two older brothers had already enlisted right after Pearl Harbor. Larson would become a Bombardier Navigator and train at many spots around the country. Then just as his training was being completed, the war was over.
So then the question came back up, what is the small-town boy to do? One of his older brothers, Robert, decided to attend the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and he talked Roger into going there too. The boys got help from the GI Bill, of which Larson says is one of the best pieces of legislation ever passed. It gave Larson the confidence that he needed for the multitude of things he would accomplish and continues to accomplish. So he started taking classes at the UNL College of Business Administration while also working at the Nebraska Student Union as a bookkeeper, according to Roger, “it was so handy and it fit perfect.”
One of the classes he was forced to take was History. The subject wasn’t one of his favorites even though today he admits to being a history buff. Most of his reading focuses on biographies or about American political history as he admires true leaders like Dwight Eisenhower. But maybe it was what (or more importantly who) happened to be in that classroom. It was a large class, made up of a lot of war veterans, and the teacher decided to have a seating arrangement by alphabetical order. So in the seat next to Roger Larson was Shirley Laflin, who as fate would grant, on June 11, 1950 became his wife, Shirley Larson. “It was the last semester for the both of us,” Roger said, who graduated in August of 1949. “I always joke with her that I rescued her from spinsterhood because she was in teaching.”
In 1950, Larson took an assistant general manager role at the Nebraska Student Union but it was then that “chance” continued to look favorably on this former rural Nebraska boy, now a man. Because the question wasn’t being asked, what is he going to do, but how can he help others?
Larson became active in the Lincoln Jaycees -- the Lincoln Junior Chamber of Commerce. It was a very active organization with many of the members returning veterans from the war. “If you can define the originators of the grand generation it would be the kind of people that were in the Jaycees,” Larson said. “They were very interested in their own success, their families and in building a better community.” Larson was tabbed to be on the organization’s membership committee, elected chairman and then grew it to become the third largest chapter in the world. “It was such great training for community participation and involvement that I would say has been the hallmark of my career.”
His abilities caught the eye of both Dick Chapin, who was the executive director of the Jaycees and manager of KFOR, as well as Jim Stuart Sr., who was a senior advisor to the Jaycees and the owner of KFOR. They hired Larson as an account executive and he would work his way up the rungs of the KFOR ladder to sales manager, assistant general manager, station manager, and then vice president and general manager before retiring at the age of 66. “When they hired me, they figured if anyone can sell that many memberships in the Junior Chamber then they can sell advertising,” Larson said. Chapin and Larson worked together for 32 years, building Stuart Broadcasting into a major success.
During that time as well, Larson and his wife would have three children: Ted, now the chairman of the social studies department at Lincoln Southwest and successful athletics coach; Tom, now a teacher at the School of Music at UNL with one of the most popular classes on campus and Susan, who has her own communications business in Lincoln and is also very active in the community. “Thank heavens my wife was the perfect mother,” Larson said. “She really kept the household together. My part in parenting was to earn money to provide for them but also to lead by example. I’ve had many regrets in my last 30 years that I didn’t spend much time with them but I’m very close with all of them now.”
So that’s what this small town boy was to become. Imagine that!
But his remarkable story of selflessness doesn’t stop there. What became truly important to Larson was his drive to be involved in the community. During his tenure at KFOR, the list is wide and varied from the Region II Crime Commission to the UNL Rebounders Club and the Lincoln Public Schools Foundation. Larson found a way to leave a true mark on the community through nearly 40 different boards of directors. “My attitude all of the time was, if you serve the community well, they will serve you well and it worked, really good. Not only were we the community leader in listenership but also in revenue and profit.”
Following his time at KFOR, Larson was asked to serve part-time as a board director and community relations director at the National Bank of Commerce, now known as Wells Fargo, a position he retired from at the end of 2007.
But if you think he has slowed down, think again. If a heart attack at the age of 38 couldn’t do it (and the doctor telling his wife that he wouldn’t make it through the night), retirement for sure won’t get in the way. Larson’s sense of civic pride and willingness to help out in the community comes from his family heritage. “Growing up in a rural community during depression and drought, community involvement wasn’t a choice it was a must. We had to help each other. My dad was a community leader, and even though we had no money, I admired that. My dad was once honored as outstanding citizen of the county.” Larson himself has earned numerous awards including the Mayor’s Community Conscience Award, the Community Pillar Award from Leadership Lincoln and the Broadcast Pioneer Award from the UNL School of Journalism and Nebraska Broadcasters Association. He also has another big honor, an award named after him, the Roger T. Larson Citizenship Award.
“I have achieved what I always wanted to be and that is a senior statesman who has the respect of his family and his community and still contributes, that is success,” Larson said.
Among other boards he is currently the chair of the TeamMates Foundation, the chair of the Food Bank Foundation, a member of the City/County Planning Commission and was recently asked to co-chair the fund raising committee for Lincoln’s new “Central Park.”
“It’s my sincere desire to help others and be in the middle of things,” Larson said, who admits to saying yes too easily. “When you get to be my age you philosophize and my philosophies are that people that are happy generally make themselves happy and people that are unhappy make themselves unhappy. The easiest way to make yourself happy is to help someone else. And if we are going to move this civilization forward we all have to give more than we take and make it a better world.”
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