Des Plaines church mourns for Arlington Heights woman killed while sledding
Whether it was at a worship service, Bible study class or social activity at The Bridge Community Church in Des Plaines, Rachel Jo Larson was known to greet those she knew and others she had just met the same way: with a smile and a hug.
"If you needed a hug, she'd be happy to give you a hug," said Joel Bradshaw, the church's care pastor, who hosts the weekly Bible study sessions Larson attended. "To get a hug from her, you just felt really good. It kinda felt like if Mr. Rogers gave you a hug."
Those warm embraces from a woman known as "the purple lady" - for her favorite color that was a part of her daily attire - are among the ways church members are remembering Larson, who died last weekend after a sledding accident in Wisconsin.
Authorities say the 50-year-old Arlington Heights woman died Saturday after veering off course on an inner tube and crashing into a brush area and several trees at the church's Camp Awana, some 40 miles north of Milwaukee.
"She's touched so many lives that when she's taken like that, or when she dies so suddenly, it just triggers so many emotions that we weren't ready to process yet," Bradshaw said. "This is so sudden, that the suddenness kind of unites us. So we want to honor her. And the best way to honor her is through our memories and stories and linking our stories with other people."
Many of those memories were shared during Bradshaw's weekly Bible class Wednesday night, which members of the congregation attended via Zoom to offer comfort to Larson's husband, Randy, and son, Daniel. Many of them will be at the church Saturday morning for a visitation and memorial service, with masks, social distancing and other COVID-19 restrictions in place.
With her outgoing personality and service mentality, it seemed everyone at The Bridge knew Larson, Bradshaw said. She volunteered in the children's ministry at the church and regularly offered to help out at Camp Awana by cleaning toilets and other things, he said.
"It didn't matter if you were a baby needing to be soothed in the nursery so Mom and Dad could go have a worship service with some peace and quiet, or if you were a shy person who was new to the church and all of a sudden saw some friendly smile that was wearing purple and you realized, 'You know what? Maybe I can be welcome here,'" Bradshaw said.
Many will also remember her for her love of "Doctor Who" and anime.
Larson just didn't have faith, Bradshaw said. She had "faith with teeth," he said.
"She had to go through profound loss herself," said Bradshaw, noting the loss of her parents in recent years. "But she was the kind of person who even though you know that she was grieving and you know that life was hard because of that, the smile you would get was still a genuine smile. And you were still getting a genuine person who cared about you and who wanted to let you know that you matter."