George Donald (Laaksonen) Larson
- Born: 10 Mar 1933
- Married: 1957
- Divorced: 1986
 Events:
1. Donald grew up in Dearborn, Michigan, a
suburb of Detroit. His
first language was Finnish (see his ABC's book), but his Finnish became
passive, and eventually mostly forgotten during his adulthood. His
confirmation classes were supposedly in Finnish.
2. Donald graduated from a Detroit high
school (Mackenzie) in 1951, and went to the University of Michigan on a
Henry Ford Scholarship, which covered about 90% of his expenses for four
years. He finished the premed program in three years (no degree). For the
first three years of medical school at Wayne State in Detroit he
lived at home without a car of his own. He married Alisa Happonen the summer
before his senior year. Don and Alisa lived in Dearborn again
for a year; Alisa taught school and Donald finished his final year of medical
school. He graduated from medical school in 1958. After graduating from
medical school, Don and Alisa had their last name legally changed from Laaksonen to Larson
(thereby largely avoiding the nearly universal mispronunciation and
misspelling associated with the Laaksonen surname). Donald interned in the US
Public Health Service in San Francisco for one
year and completed his ophthalmology residency at Henry Ford Hosp. in Detroit in
1962.
Marriage Information:
George married Alisa Maria Selma (Happonen) Larson
in 1957. They divorced in
1986.
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