When Sue Larson saw something that needed doing — expanding access to libraries, working for women's advancement, starting senior tennis and poetry groups, helping older people plan for death — she would step right up and do it.

"She would see a problem or a challenge and then go for it," said her son Jim Larson, of Minneapolis. "She was a consummate professional in starting things and getting them so they could continue on their own."

Larson died Dec. 8 of vascular dementia at Parkshore, a senior community in St. Louis Park where she had lived for about 10 years. She was 98.

Sue Miller grew up in Minot, N.D., one of five children raised by her mother after her father died when she was 6. At a time when most women did not pursue education beyond high school, she attended the University of Minnesota, where she earned a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1946.

She volunteered throughout college as a member of the Young Republicans, where she met Raeder Larson. They married in 1949, settled in St. Louis Park and had five children.

In the 1960s, Larson talked the Edina and St. Louis Park schools into keeping their libraries open during the summer and helped lead campaigns to open public libraries in those communities. She also worked to establish a Minneapolis bookmobile, Jim Larson said.

"She did so many things, we could barely keep up with her," he said.

During the Vietnam War, Larson switched parties and became a Democrat, her son said. But she also worked as a paid staffer on Republican Rudy Boschwitz's first run for the U.S. Senate in 1978.

Larson served in leadership roles in a number of organizations, including the Hennepin County Library, Minnesota Women's Fund, Presbyterian Homes of Minnesota, St. Louis Park League of Women Voters, the American Association of University Women, St. Louis Park Public Schools and Peace Presbyterian Church in St. Louis Park.

Ann Clark of Grand Rapids, Minn., a distant relative who hosted Larson at several family reunions, was struck by her way of asking people questions and listening carefully to their answers.

"She stuck with you until you said what you're trying to say," Clark said. "She didn't just ask questions to ask them; she asked them because she wanted to learn."

Longtime friend Diane Bjorkman described Larson as a "master networker."

"She seemed to know so many who's who-type people in the Twin Cities," said Bjorkman, who co-owns Gentle Transitions, a company that helps seniors relocate. When they got together, Larson would hand her a stack of clippings she'd collected that she thought would be of interest to Bjorkman — or even her children.

A lifelong tennis player, Larson organized a tennis group for seniors. When she moved into Parkshore, she started a poetry group, a group for North Dakota natives and an educational series on planning for death where experts discussed estate planning, funeral planning and emotional acceptance of death.

Larson was preceded in death by a son, Dana. Besides her son Jim, she is survived by sons Rolfe of Denver and Judd of Minneapolis; daughter Lee of St. Paul; and five grandchildren. No public service is planned.