Larsens named Ma & Pa Teapot

This year’s Ma & Pa Teapot have been in the Tea area since 1995.

Wayne and Margaret Larsen, who have been married for 47 years, moved to Tea in December 1995 before building their home outside of Tea where they grow trees for Country Acres Tree Farm in October 1996.

Margaret’s great-great-great-grandparents were some of the people who were trying to name the town. Her grandparents had one of the first 20 homes in Tea. She grew up on the family farm outside of town.

She and Wayne, originally from Colome, met while in school at South Dakota Mines. Wayne has a degree in geological engineering and Margaret’s degree is in metallurgical engineering.

In the past nearly 30 years, the Larsens have been involved in the community. They have both served as president of the school’s parent-teacher organization, served on the Tea Area Community Foundation board and are active on the church council at Trinity Lutheran. Margaret runs the church committee that does the volunteering out in the community and serves as the Lincoln County Open Class co-chair.

Wayne was very active in the forming of the school district and served as the business manager before taking on his current role as operations manager. 

They are both involved in different school projects and have an interest in STEM programs.

“One of fun things we did was initiate the grant process that allowed the first STEM program here. That was in the middle school. We applied for all the grants and got that going and then after about three years is when they moved over to Project Lead the Way,” Margaret said. “We judged science fairs. We judged the senior projects, whatever they ask us to do we come in and do.”

Wayne spent about 10 years with the city’s economic development group.

After being crowned Ma & Pa Teapot next week, they will ride in the Teapot Days parade on June 21. Once they get through the parade, Margaret will walk with the church group to pick up trash at the end of the parade.

While Wayne thinks the city could do more for downtown, Margaret said the city has done a good job with growth.

“I think they’ve done a good job of handling the growth with the streets and the sidewalks and zoning but never dreamt it would be this big,” Margaret said.

The Larsens are grandparents and have two grown children, who are both engineers, and one daughter who passed away.