Larson, Erica Rachael

Brighton: Passed away unexpectedly on October 31, 2017. Survived by her parents, James Larson and Therese Pieczynski, brother, Nigel Larson, beloved pets, Cody, Ghost, Isabella, Autumn, UCPA group home family as well as beloved friends at the ARC of Monroe Fairport Day Services. Visitation will be Saturday, November 11^th from 1-3PM with a Memorial Service to follow at the Richard H. Keenan Funeral Home (Egypt location), 7501 Pittsford Palmyra Rd., Fairport. Donations may be made to the ARC Foundation of Monroe, 2060 Brighton Henrietta Townline Road, Rochester, NY 14623. https://arcmonroe.org/arc-foundation/donations/

Erica’s Life Story

Erica Rachael Larson passed away suddenly and unexpectedly at her parents’ home on October 31, 2017 at the age of 43. She was born in Oak Harbor, Washington on June 6th, 1974. Her early years were spent in the Pacific Northwest. She then moved with her family to Chicago, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and finally in 1991 to Rochester, New York, where she lived the rest of her life. After graduating from the School of the Holy Childhood, Erica worked for seven years at the Brookwood Inn in housekeeping and later at LAI where she did sorting, collating and assembly. From there she eventually went to ARC of Monroe Fairport Day Services where she remained till her death. Erica lived in a UCPA group home in Brighton, but came home to her parents weekly. She spent all holidays with her parents and went on vacations with them. Erica loved animals, babies, live performance, music, and finding things on the Internet.
Erica is survived by her mother, Therese Pieczynski, her father, James Larson, her brother Nigel Larson, her aunts Carole Nagen (nee Larson) and Judy Larson, her uncles Edward Pieczynski and Alphonse Pieczynski, and her beloved pets Cody, Isabella, Ghost and Autumn.
Erica will be remembered at Keenan Funeral Home on Pittsord-Palmyra Road on November 11th. There will be a reception line from 1:00 to 3:00 pm followed by a 3:00 pm memorial service.

Following is a remembrance by Therese, Erica’s mother:

People who knew Erica and me well also knew that Erica was the joy at the center of my heart. What a gift. It’s not that there weren’t difficult and frustrating times, times when I was irritated or just plain tired, but at the core was always joy. I want more than anything to celebrate the memory of her happiness and for people to share their memories of her with me. Following are a few of the things she loved:
Erica adored animals and babies. When we went to the zoo, half the time was spent admiring animals and half the time stopping at baby carriages so that she could ask the baby’s name and tell the little boys they were handsome and the little girls that they were pretty.
She loved live performance. We’ve been going to the ballet together since she was eight and we went to almost all the Rochester City Ballet performances and those that came to Nazareth. We frequently went to the Geva and Auditorium Theaters, where she would sit on the edge of her seat. The last performance we saw together was The Little Mermaid a week before her death. When it was over, she put her hand over her heart and said, “That was awesome. I want to see it again!” She loved mystery dinner theater and Disney on Ice. And in the winter we went to the movie every other week. She made every holiday so much fun for me and Jim.
Erica had impressive computer skills. Even though she couldn’t read or write she figured out how to find anything on the Internet and also, by herself, how to access YouTube to find videos of Phantom of the Opera (with which she was particularly obsessed) and listen to it performed in Croatian, Polish, and other different languages. Music was particularly important to her.
At home she liked to snuggle with me while I read to her or we did stickers or colored or did puzzles or laughed together at the goofy cats. She called me every morning to ask what the animals were doing because “having animals is fun.” We grocery-shopped together every Monday. It’s going to be hard to walk into Wegmans without her.
Erica’s smile could light up a whole room. She touched a lot of people. I can’t convey in words how much she’ll be missed. Love to you all,

Therese