Established on 01.15.2022 by Vivian T. Anderson †
Larry Charles Anderson ‘65 grew up in Litchfield, MN, the second of four children in a family headed by his mother, Ruby, who worked as a nurse at Meeker County Hospital. When Larry was ten years old, he had an accident that left him with a significant nerve hearing loss which affected his speech. His speech was never corrected until he entered Concordia as a freshman when he enrolled in a speech therapy class. When Larry finished the semester-long course, he was told to practice what he had learned and was encouraged to try out for a play, though he had never been on stage before. Subsequently, he acted in several plays at Concordia and also during graduate school at Utah State University though he was a biology major. He received his Ph.D. in zoology from Utah State University in 1972 and then spent 45 years teaching gross anatomy at the University of Detroit School of Dentistry, acting occasionally with local theater groups and with his daughter in children’s theater productions.
While in graduate school, Larry married Vivian Telford Anderson on June 8, 1968, in Pullman, WA, before moving to Detroit, MI, to start their careers and a family. As college professors, they were part of several colleges and universities. Vivian believes that few colleges would have remediated Larry’s speech disability. Concordia, on the other hand, was pivotal in addressing his disability and changing his life forever. Larry often spoke of the enormous impact Concordia had on his personal and professional life. For this reason, Vivian Anderson, along with daughters Janeece and Leah, are establishing an endowed fund at Concordia in his memory.
The purpose of the Larry Charles Anderson Ph.D. Endowed Fund is to provide a general unrestricted endowed fund to support the college’s greatest needs as determined by the administration of Concordia College. These needs may include but are not limited to, scholarships, emergency funds for students, and costs associated with the maintenance of buildings, grounds, and the resources of the college.
† - Testamentary endowments may not be contributed to until they are fully established.