Lauritz (Lars) Romo was born February 21, 1945, in Minneapolis, Minnesota and passed away in his home surrounded by family on June 1, 2022. He was adopted by Adolph and Marie Romo in September 1945. Lars graduated from Wanamingo High School in 1963. He attended the University of Minnesota, where he would complete his degree in Agriculture in 1968. During his studies, his father would pass away in 1966, which led Lars to carry out not only his schooling, but to continue the farming his father had left him and his mother. In 1973 he started working for Wanamingo Township doing road maintenance, a job he found passion doing. In 1975 he married Helen Hart from Deer River. They raised 5 sons on the homestead. With his passion and high skill for township road maintenance, in 1997, he accepted Cherry Grove Township road maintenance duties all while still working with Wanamingo Township and farming his land. In 2004, he married the love of this life, Ann (Esterby) Forsman. Lars would love to go on camping trips, and fishing trips with Ann and friends. He enjoyed woodworking, farming, gardening, making lefse, going to lutefisk dinners, and driving around on his Ranger to get the mail or pop-in on a neighbor to say hello. Lars always had a passion for farming, but that passion was present in anything he cared about or touched. He was soft spoken but always was a pleasure to be around with his many jokes and many wonderful memories of happiness he would share.
From 1997-2015, Lars always wanted to know who his birth family was and through hard work, he searched and was able to find his birth mother’s (found in 2003) and father’s (found 2015) families. Lars belonged to both Aspelund Emanuel Lutheran Church and Urland Lutheran Church.
Lars was preceded in death by his adoptive parents, Adolph and Marie Romo, his birth mother, Ida (Anderson) Rosch, and birth father Dean Herman. Lars is survived by this wife, Ann; sons Stephen (Sherri) Hart of Ham Lake; Zane (Stacy) Englorian of Minneapolis; Andy (Nichole) Romo of Rochester; Jon (Tracy) Romo of Cannon Falls; Dan (Randi) Romo of Zumbrota; grandchildren Steel (Kelsey) Hart, Shiana Hart, Sawyer Hart; Graham & Everett Romo; Vincent, Peter & Sophia Romo; Jordan, Aria & Jaxson Romo; and great grandchild Emma; Stepdaughters Emily (Brian) LaBare; Laura (Erik) Inman; step-grandchild Jagger; and half siblings Rose (Duane) Barclay, George (Cathy) Rosch; and Deb (Paul) Bergland.
June 11, 4-7p.m. Visitation at Aspelund Emmanuel Lutheran Church
June 12, 3p.m. Funeral Service at Aspelund Emmanuel Lutheran Church, family visitation preceding at 2p.m. Burial will immediately follow funeral service at Urland Church. Refreshments after the service at Aspelund Emmanuel Lutheran Church.
Memories and condolences of Lars may be shared at rochestercremationservicesmn.com
My mother, Ima Herman, was the sister of Dean Herman, the bio father of Lars Romo. Dean died never knowing that he had a second son, and Dean would have been so thrilled to know about his son, Lars.
Lars and I came into contact via Ancestry.com and DNA testing. We were able to meet in Fargo, North Dakota in 2015 at a small Herman reunion. While looking at old family photos, some of which included pictures of Dean Herman, Dean’s daughter remarked that Lars eyes were very similar to her father’s eyes. They had other similarities: hardworking, good sense of humor and warm hearted.
Lars told me that the first thing he learned about his bio mother was that she loved to dance. My uncle, Dean Herman, loved music and some of his first cousins were well known in the musical world of Minneapolis. Likely this is what drew them together.
Linda Thurlow
I will be unable to attend the services for Lars, but I will always remember him, fondly,
Warmest Regards,
Linda Thurlow
To the Romo family- My sympathy to Ann, and the rest of the family. May God Bless.
Sorry for his passing. Another 1st cousin gone. My family moved to AZ in 59 so we did not have much contact over the years.
In 67 and 68 I worked the pea pack with Lauritz. In those days he used the nickname Larry, so there were 2 Larry Romos on the same crew. He was supervisor. We always had to make sure we got the correct paychecks since both had the same name.
Glad he was able to find and meet his birth parents and family.
I didn’t get to know him very well, but he came to at least one Romo cousin reunion these last few years, when he told us his story. He was certainly a good man who loved family and the community.