Wayne Alfred Larson, 83, went home to Heaven on Sunday, May 29, 2016, with his family by his side.

Wayne was born to Alfred & Lulu Larson on November 9, 1932 in Portland, Oregon and was raised with his younger brother, Bruce.

Wayne and Joann married in 1954 and raised their 3 children in Medford, Oregon. In 1965 they traveled to Swaziland, Africa, where they felt the call of God on their lives to become full-time missionaries with the Church of the Nazarene. They returned to Swaziland as a family in 1969.

In 1979 they were transferred by the Nazarene church to Kudjip, Papua New Guinea where they served until they retired from missionary work in 1990. They moved to Nampa, Idaho in 1997 to work as postmasters at Northwest Nazarene University until they officially retired.

Read: Former missionary to Papua New Guinea diagnosed with inoperable brain tumor. 

Wayne was preceded in death by his wife of 58 years, Joann, as well as his parents. Wayne is survived by his 3 children: Don (Darla) of Nampa, Diane (Jeff Poseley) of Nampa and Rob (Lynn) of Evans, CO; his brother, Bruce, as well as numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Graveside burial will be held on Friday, June 3rd at 10:00 a.m. at Morris Hill Cemetery, 317 Latah St in Boise, with a memorial service to be held at 2:00 p.m. at Nampa First Church of the Nazarene, 601 16th Ave S in Nampa. Services are under the direction of Zeyer Funeral Chapel, Nampa 467-7300.

Visit zeyerfuneralchapel.com to read the full obituary.
As a memorial, the effort is ongoing to provide a scholarship for Little Wayne Larson Piyu to attend NNU in the future. Wayne Larson Piyu is the son of a Papua New Guinean Nazarene co-worker who was named after Wayne. A special fund has been set up for this purpose, and donations can be made to the Wayne Larson Piyu Scholarship Fund, c/o Diane Poseley, 3310 S Stanford, Nampa, ID 83686.

Please commit to pray for the family during this time.