Visitation
9:30 to 11 AM, Thursday, September 10th, 2015 @ Salem Lutheran Church - Salisbury, MO

Funeral Services
11 AM, Thursday, Sept. 10th, at Salem Lutheran Church

Interment
Salem Lutheran Church Cemetery

Memorials
Salem Lutheran Church in care of funeral home

Laurence Carlson 1943 - 2015 Pastor Laurence Carlson of Salem Lutheran Church in Forest Green, Missouri died suddenly August 20, 2015 in Perth, Australia where he was going to go on a cruise. He was 71 years of age. The Reverend Laurence Harold Carlson, Jr. was born September 7, 1943 in Chicago, IL to Laurence H. and Lorine (Mau) Carlson, Sr. He was baptized October of 1943 and confirmed at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Chicago, IL in March of 1958. He attended several schools for elementary education in the Chicago area. As a junior in high school, he enrolled at the Concordia Junior College High School department in Milwaukee, WI graduating in 1962; he attended Concordia Junior College in Milwaukee, WI graduating in 1964 with an associate of Arts Degree. He then attended Concordia Theological Seminary in Springfield, IL graduating with a Master of Divinity Degree and was ordained in Merrill, WI at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in August of 1970. Before accepting a Call, he served Messiah Lutheran Church in Mounds View, MN as a Youth Director and an assistant to the Pastor. He then moved to Merill, WI to serve St. Paul's Lutheran Church in the small town of Pine River. Pine River was similar to Forest Green, MO. Then in 1981, he made a move to the big city of Oakland, CA to service the Zion Lutheran Church in Piedmont, CA as an associate Pastor. When his father was very ill, he made the move to Port Charlotte, FL in 1983 to organize a mission congregation, Lutheran Church of the Cross. In the process of moving, his father was called to his eternal home in heaven. Because of the excessive heat in FL, in the year of 2000, he accepted a call to service at the Salem Lutheran Church in Forest Green, MO. He was a hardworking devout pastor who always took care of his parish. Every Thanksgiving he would bake loafs of bread for his parishioners. Every Christmas he would decorate every room in his house and would invite people to his home to see it. Pastor Carlson had just celebrated his 45 year of being an ordained minister. He will truly be missed by all who knew him. Survivors include his sister, Sandra Voegele and her husband, Kenneth of Greenville, IL, two brothers, Gary Carlson of Cape Girardeau, MO and Greg Carlson of Waynesville, MO and his step-mother, Dorothy Carlson of Waynesville, MO and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins. A funeral service will be 11 AM, Thursday, September 10th at Salem Lutheran Church of Forest Green, MO with Pastor's Glen Gutz and Dr. Lee Hagan officiating. Visitation will be an hour and a half before the service, 9:30 AM to 11 AM. Burial will be in the church cemetery. Memorials are suggested to Salem Lutheran Church in care of Friemonth-Freese Funeral Service, 112 Market St., Glasgow, MO 65254.