Gretchen Larson

Gretchen Larson passed away on October 24, 2025, having lived a deeply generous and inquisitive life. She was devoted to friends new and old, fiercely supportive of her immediate and extended families, drawn to all manner of art and literature, and forever curious about the outdoors. When you talked with Gretchen, you always learned something and knew she was interested in you.

Gretchen was born on March 16, 1933, in Shaker Heights, Ohio, to Richard and Loretta Stifel, a physician and a school teacher. She attended Boulevard Elementary and finished her primary education at Hathaway Brown School. She attended and loved her time at Wellesley College, then returned to Cleveland to help care for her ailing father and graduated from Case Western Reserve University in 1954. Back in Boston, on a double date she met a handsome law student, Bob Larson, who wisely remarked, “I want to be with the girl with the sparkling blue eyes.” Six months later, they married and moved back to Cleveland, where Bob began his law career at Thompson Hine.

As much as she connected with adults, children were her people. Gretchen was a great mom. She excelled at imbuing Rick, Kristin, and Robert with an interest in all manner of creation – flora and fauna, music and art – and a love for learning. She nourished relationships with each of her grandchildren, figuring out what made them tick and exploring whatever that was, together. It was no surprise that Children’s Literature was her focus when she went back to school and earned her Master of Library Science in 1977.

In 1969, she and Bob built a house on Pepper Ridge Road, joining a remarkable group of neighbors for whom modern architecture is a common language and community is paramount. Gretchen loved the Ridge’s multigenerational richness and the lifelong friends she made there. She especially loved that her kids could step out the front door and play baseball, mud football, and tennis with the neighborhood gang, swim, pond skate, cross country ski, walk the woods, collect sap from maple trees, pick blackberries or harvest apples. Her other beloved location was Kelley’s Island, where she and Bob had a cottage with long-time friends. She spent many happy years banding warblers and getting to know everyone on the Island.

Service was in her DNA. She was a member of the Junior League, a Cuyahoga County Grand Jury Foreman, and a librarian (paid and unpaid) at numerous schools, including her alma mater Hathaway Brown. She brought the extended Stifel family together for reunions beginning in 1983 and created an exhaustive Stifel family tree. She ran a grassroots fundraising campaign so her Ridge neighbor Bill McVey could sculpt the Orange Lion that rules over the entrance to Orange High School. She never met a native plant she didn’t like or an invasive species she didn’t detest, and she volunteered wherever she could to keep her patch of the world green. If something needed doing, she just did it.

At Judson Park, where Bob and Gretchen retired in 2013, Gretchen continued her connections with people and the natural world. She could engage with anyone and loved learning from them and pursuing their mutual interests; her apartment was blanketed with articles topped with “Send this to…” Post-it notes.

Her curiosity extended far beyond Northeast Ohio. She and Bob traveled with the Cleveland Orchestra to Japan in 1970, visited her brother Larry and his family in Nigeria, and explored Russia, Asia, Central America and Europe with dear friends and family, often on ElderHostel trips. After Bob passed away in 2016, she continued traveling –gathering all her family for an Alaska cruise, chasing birds on San Padre Island, and traversing the Panama Canal, to name but a few adventures.

Even as her health declined over the past few months, the wonderful nurses and aides who cared for her appreciated her “spark” and did their best to cope with her strong independent streak.

Her children and grandchildren loved and admired her generous spirit, and she nurtured the same in us. We count ourselves fortunate we were on her team, and we miss her.

Gretchen was the beloved wife of the late Robert L. Larson; loving mother of Richard S. Larson (Gair McCullough) of Durham, NC, Kristin L. Ubersax (Jeffrey) of Pepper Pike, OH and Robert Larson (Monika) of San Francisco, CA; dear grandmother of Justin and David Larson, John, Samuel (Chiaki), Grace and Clare (Jeremy Cottle) Ubersax and Xandr and Alma Larson; great-grandmother of Emma and Noah Ubersax. She was predeceased by her brother and sister, Laurence Davis Stifel and Irene Stifel Smith, and by her father and mother, Richard Ernest Stifel and Loretta Davis Stifel.

A Memorial Service will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, November 14 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 2747 Fairmount Blvd., Cleveland Hts., OH.

FRIENDS MAY CALL AT BROWN-FORWARD, 17022 CHAGRIN BLVD., SHAKER HTS., OH, ON THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13 FROM 4-6 PM.

Memorial donations in lieu of flowers may be made to:

• Nature Center at Shaker Lakes in memory of Gretchen Larson, 2600 S. Park Blvd, Cleveland, OH 44120 or online at shakerlakes.org/tribute-gifts

• Cleveland Museum of Art- You can make a tribute donation in memory of someone to the Cleveland Museum of Art by donating online at cma.org/donate or by mailing a check to the Member and Donor Center at 11150 East Boulevard, Cleveland, OH 44106.
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