Darlene Marie Matz

Darlene Marie (Larson) Matz; age 73, of Fairbanks, Alaska was born in Cass Lake, Minnesota on April 30, 1949 to Vernon and Alice Larson. She grew up in the community of Bena, Minnesota and attended the local elementary school through 6th grade. She attended Junior and Senior high school in Cass Lake graduating in 1967. She attended Concordia College in St. Paul, Minnesota and received a BA in Christian Education in 1973. While there, she met her future husband Curt. They were married on April 10, 1971 in Comstock Park, Michigan and celebrated fifty-two years of marriage on April 10, 2023. 

Darlene passed away on Tuesday, April 25, 2023 at Providence Hospital in Anchorage. She is survived by her husband Curtis of Fairbanks, son David (Jenn) of Fairbanks, son Dan of Fairbanks, and by grandchildren Rebekah, Jonathon, and Benjamin of Fairbanks as well as by several honorary grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents Vernon and Alice. 

Darlene and family lived in the states of Washington, Minnesota, New York, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Alaska. Darlene was a very faithful supporter of her husband's ministry in several congregations as a Director of Youth and Education and later as a pastor. She received great joy from leading volunteer Vacation Bible School teams to northern Manitoba for nine summers with the Lutheran Association of Missionaries and Pilots, assisting in a rural highway ministry in Alaska, being a nanny for two Irish doctors, serving as a Synodically Authorized Minister and sharing a ministry with her husband for eight years in four small rural congregations in northwestern Minnesota, and especially while serving as a Presbyterian Lay Pastor in the village of Kaktovik, Alaska. 

Darlene enjoyed traveling, reading cozy mysteries, growing flowers, and knitting hats to give away. She appreciated contacts with people of other cultures and learning from them. She sought to learn new things throughout her life and thoroughly enjoyed the years she spent living in Alaska. She was a very compassionate person and did many things over the years to provide aid to those less fortunate than herself. 

She prefers gifts to charity rather than flowers. 

A memorial service for Darlene will be held on Saturday, May 20th, at 10:30 am at Lord of Life Lutheran Church in North Pole with burial at a later date in Deer River, Minnesota. 

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