Ray and Carol Larson

Ray and Carol met as classmates at Sycamore High School. After graduation, they got married in 1953 and settled on a farm north of Sycamore. Here they had three children, Norm, David and Lynn, before moving just south of Maple Park. By the time their oldest reached high school, they moved to the current location of the main farm on Keslinger Road where they stayed for almost 50 years.

Besides maintaining their own farming operation, Ray was always very involved in various organizations including the Beef Association at both the state and national levels, the Sycamore United Methodist Church, and was voted Master Farmer by Prairie Farmer magazine. He also volunteers his time to deliver meals for Meals on Wheels. Carol has also stayed busy volunteering for multiple church boards and has been on the Oak Crest Retirement Center board in some fashion for the last 30+ years.

They were happy to welcome back their children to the farm in the late 1970’s when the Larson Farms Partnership was formed. They were elated when the third generation came back with grandson Justin and his wife Jamie joining the partnership in 2009. Ray and Carol have always been the ones to push the operation forward and challenge their kids and grandchildren to think about how we do things, why we do things and how can we do things better.

As of recent, Ray and Carol have moved to town for the first time in both of their lives and are quickly settling in. Since Justin and Jamie have purchased the main farm house, this has brought a new joy to Ray and Carol of watching their grandson and great grandchildren grow in the house they built that had been their home for so many years.