Fergus Falls woman celebrates 110th birthday at Pioneer Pointe

Gertrude Adeline Larson marked an uncommon milestone at Pioneer Pointe in Fergus Falls, where family and friends gathered to celebrate her 110th birthday. Known to many as Trudy and Gert, Larson has become a living link to more than a century of Otter Tail County and northern Minnesota history.

Larson was born April 4, 1916, in Barnes County, North Dakota, and her age was validated by the Gerontology Research Group on April 4, 2026, when she turned 110. She now lives in Fergus Falls, and her life has stretched across 19 presidencies, two world wars, two pandemics and generations of change in the region. In a county where family ties and longtime neighbors still shape daily life, her birthday drew attention well beyond her own circle.

Her story has deep roots in local health care. Larson studied at St. Luke’s School of Nursing in Fargo and later worked at Wright Hospital in Fergus Falls, which became part of Lake Region Hospital. She married Edwin Selmer Larson in Ramsey County, North Dakota, and the couple had at least two children. Edwin Larson died Jan. 12, 1990, and she never remarried.

Larson’s resilience has been part of the celebration around her. A 2023 profile said she survived the 1918 flu pandemic and COVID-19, and during the coronavirus outbreak she used a 1939 Singer sewing machine to make masks for nursing home staff and residents. That same profile said she moved from her home near Lake Alice to Pioneer Pointe in Fergus Falls, where she continued to be seen as a steady, encouraging presence.

People who know Larson have described her as influential, memorable and positive, qualities that help explain why her 110th birthday felt larger than a private family gathering. In a rural county like Otter Tail, a resident who has lived through so many eras becomes part of the community’s shared memory. Larson’s life, from Barnes County birth to nursing work in Fergus Falls and her years at Pioneer Pointe, has become one more thread in that local history.