Betty Joyce (Gardner) Larson, age 78, of Brookings, went to be with the Lord on July 29, 2015, at Oak Terrace Assisted Living in Mankato, Minnesota. Funeral services will be 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, August 4, 2015, at Gracepoint Wesleyan Church, with interment at Lakeview Cemetery at South Shore, South Dakota. Visitations will be from 5-7 p.m. Monday at Eidsness Funeral Home in Brookings. Memorials may be donated to the Alzheimer's Association (http://www.alz.org/sd/). Betty Joyce Larson was born on January 18, 1937 in Dines, Wyoming to Lola (Valenzuela) and Elmer Gardner. She and her family later moved to Glendale, Arizona. She graduated from Glendale High School in 1955. She went on to attend Arizona State University where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education in 1959. She went on to earn her Master's Degree in Education from Cal Poly in California in 1965. She married Lyle Monsees in 1961 and moved to Brookings. She raised three children and worked on the family farm. She would plant cucumbers, pickle and sell them, and then treat her children to ice cream. In 1984 Betty began teaching in the mathematics department at South Dakota State University. She was an amazing teacher. Her students said she had a way of making difficult concepts easy. She taught there until she retired in 2009. In 1994 she met her cowboy, Neil Larson. They were married in 1995. Betty attended Gracepoint Wesleyan Church. She loved Jesus with her whole heart and truly found ways to let His light shine through her. She loved riding horses, an interest that began when she was a young girl, letting the horse eat alongside the roadside. She continued to enjoy riding after her marriage, as well as gardening, laughing, teaching, walking, and cheering at the Jackrabbit basketball games. She loved spending time with her grandchildren. Betty's survivors include her husband, Neil Larson, of Brookings; her son, Johnny (Denise) of Harrisburg; her two daughters: Lynette (Steven) Bacon of Mankato, Minnesota, and Lauralee (Will) Barnard of Paige, Texas; a sister, Carol (James) Hardy, of Kingwood, Texas; her grandchildren: Ashten, Taylor, Madison, Johnah, Conner, and William; her great-grandson,Noah; and nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her sister, Anna Jean Cullinan, and two brothers, Robert and William.