The Caliente Homecoming Committee unanimously voted to have Keith Larson be the 75th annual event’s grand marshal.

Larson was born in Bremerton, Washington, in 1944 to the Reverend Vincent and Charlotte Larson. He attended school in Oregon, Washington, Kansas and Indiana.

In 1966, Larson married Edith Rusch. He worked in Seattle, where his daughter Linda was born, and then settled in Salt Lake City, where Charlotte, Jeremy, Anna and Matthew were all born.

In 1974, he was hired by the Union Pacific Railroad and moved to Caliente. All his children graduated from Lincoln County High School. 

Larson said, “I had the privilege of being elected as the youngest mayor of Caliente and worked with a great bunch of councilmen and city employees.” 

He stated that he loves Caliente and has always maintained, “If you can’t buy it in Caliente, you didn’t need it.”

In 1985, Larson traveled for the Union Pacific Railroad in the IT department, eventually becoming a manager for implementation teams training railroad personnel during the mergers of seven different railroads and working with conductors, teaching them how to operate onboard computers.

Larson retired in 2004 and has worked with many great organizations in Caliente, including LCAT, the Heritage Museum, the Caliente Volunteer Fire Department and 4H. 

He is currently the ag/admin clerk for the University of Nevada Extension Office and is president of the Caliente Homecoming Committee.

He said, “My truest joy resides with my family.”

Larson has 23 grandchildren and can tell you all 20 (soon to be

21) of his great grandchildren’s first and middle names. 

He said, “I have been truly blessed to live for 51 years in such a wonderful place, where I joyfully still serve in my community.” 

Thank you, Mr. Larson, for your wonderful example of volunteerism and community spirit. Congratulations!