
Phillip Nelson Larsen
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Phillip Nelson Larsen passed away on September 30, 2023 in San Antonio, Texas. He was born in Montrose, Colorado February 27, 1929 and is predeceased by his parents, Virgil Clair and Katherine Alarid Larsen. He is survived by his wife, Patricia Swayze Larsen, whom he married in San Antonio, Texas, August 30, 1951 at Trinity Lutheran Church. His son, Col. James Phillip Larsen (USA, Ret.) and wife, Abigail, of San Antonio and daughter, Lynn Katherine Larsen of Lawson, Colorado survive. His surviving grandson is Erik S.M. Larsen and wife, Sarah of San Antonio and granddaughter, Virginia Lynn Smith and husband Jason Halley Smith of Empire, Colorado Phil is a member of Lonnie Irvin Daylight Lodge, AF&AM in San Antonio and the Scottish Rite Consistory in Denver. He was a member of the Naylor Lake Fishing Club in Colorado where he fished since 1948. Phil graduated from Kit Carson High School Kit Carson, CO in 1946 and from Colorado State (then A&M) in 1950 as a Distinguished ROTC graduate and vice president of the senior class. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Colorado State. While there he was a member of the Choir and began a lifetime of singing solos in churches and community theatre wherever he was stationed. His fine baritone was heard in plays such as "South Pacific" and "Pirates of Penzance" and in songs associated with Nelson Eddy, the film idol from whom Phil's middle name was derived. He entered active military service with a regular commission in July 1950 and served as a training officer at Lackland AFB, Texas until January 1951. He then entered the University of Illinois under the AF Institute of Technology Master's Degree program and completed the Master's degree in 1953. He completed the Ph.D in Electrical Engineering from Illinois in absentia in 1956 without Air Force sponsorship. The title of his dissertation was "A Mathematical Analysis of Nonlinear Feedback Amplifiers." In 1967 he completed a Master's degree in Business Administration from George Washington University. From March 1953 to October 1956 he was assigned to the Rome Air Development Center at Griffiss AFB, N.Y, first as project engineer and later as acting chief of the Radio Frequency Transmitter Branch. He next served at Maxwell AFB, AL as an instructor in the Effects of Thermonuclear Weapons at the Air Weapons Course of the Air Command and Staff College. In the following year he attended pilot training, graduating in April 1958. He then returned to the Rome Air Development Center and served as a pilot with the Flight Test Directorate. From 1959 to 1961 he was technical adviser for the Center's Space Defense System Laboratory. During the subsequent five years, General Larsen was an associate professor and chairman of instruction for communications engineering in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO. In 1966 he attended the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in Washington prior to flight training at Hurlburt Field, FL and survival training in Washington State and the Philippines prior to deployment to the Republic of Vietnam where he commanded an operational flying unit at Da Nang from 1968-1969. He then returned to Washington as a member of the Chairman's Special Study Group in the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and in September 1969 joined the Office of the Director of Defense Research and Engineering as a special assistant to the director and principal deputy director. General Larsen assumed command of the Rome Air Development Center in May 1972, his third assignment in Rome, New York where his children were born on the earlier tours. In September 1973 he was vice commander of the Electronic Systems Division, AFSC, at Hanscom Field, Mass. From August 1975 until October 1976 he served as deputy chief of staff for systems, Air Force Systems Command Headquarters and Special Assistant for Program Management AFSC. Retiring from the Air Force in 1977 he was employed by Western Union and Computer Sciences Corporation in executive positions until his second retirement in 1990. In 2010 the Larsens left Fairfax, VA returning to San Antonio where they had met in 1950 and chose the Hill Country Retreat community as home. Gen. Larsen was a Registered Professional Engineer; a member of Sigma Xi, Eta Kappa Nu, Pi Mu Epsilon, Kappa Nu Epsilon, Sigma Tau; a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Military awards include the Distinguished Service Medal; Silver Star; Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster; Distinguished Flying Cross; Meritorious Service Medal; Air Medal with Eleven Oak Leaf Clusters; Air Force Commendation Medal; Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Gold Star. He was a command pilot with over 5,000 flying hours.
Porter Loring Mortuary West at 1710 West Loop 1604 North in San Antonio is in charge of funeral arrangements with interment at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.

