Bryan Jay Larsen

Born February 20, 1968, was a man who encouraged others to live. Live the way they felt happiest, and he followed his own advice. He was a man of many talents, hobbies, and skills. He died unexpectedly on March 24th, 2022, while enjoying the outdoors. From a young age, he found a love for nature through scouting, earning his Eagle Scout Award at 14 years old. This budding passion for the outdoors grew as he did. When he could, he loved to spend his time camping, hunting, and skiing and found a recent love for snowmobiling. He also had a green thumb for growing indoor plants and building a garden outside once spring came every year. Bryan was an incredibly bright man with endless curiosity. As a young adult, he learned to build. When he started a family, he built a cabin in Valle Escondido. He then pursued and excelled in a career as a crane operator for Hayward Baker that lasted over 10 years. He had a passion for cars, spending his free time rebuilding and working on or fixing cars throughout his life. He loved the Taos, New Mexico area. The last several years, he’s been working on renovating his house in Valdez with a good friend. Bryan faced many challenges in his life, the biggest being his back injury. He turned adversity into an opportunity. Although his injury led to an early retirement in his crane operating career, it allowed him to rediscover his love for the culinary arts. We first saw his culinary skills when he worked at Yellowstone national park as the staff cook. When he moved to New Mexico with his growing family, he saw success in local kitchens and even operated his own kitchen for a while. Later in life, he would go back to school to earn a degree in pastry science. Here he tested his skills through competitions and found great achievement and recognition. He found immense joy in cooking for friends and family, knowing it was the best food in town. In the last few years of his life, he explored new creative outlets like ceramics, taking local classes with his daughter. His life was full of adventure and exploring. While his time was cut short, he spent his last day and moments out in nature having fun with a new hobby with his best friend. Bryan cared deeply for his friends and family, especially his three beautiful daughters. Bryan is survived by his daughters Zoe Larsen, Deva Larsen, Breanne Larsen, Parents: Lyle Roy and Carol Ann Larsen, Siblings: Ken (Mindy) Larsen, Diane (Jeff) Wood, Kristine Larsen, Andrea (Chris) Buhl, Rachael (Scott) Shelta, Former Spouse: Necia Ethridge. A very special thanks to the search and rescue teams of the Rio Arria county and Joel Kowal, who was with Bryan when he passed. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Bryan’s memorial fund through GoFundMe https://gofund.me/e70a649c