OKLEE - Carl Larson, 95, the last of four Swedish bachelor brothers who raised horses and farmed near Oklee, Minn., remains hospitalized in Thief River Falls after suffering hypothermia when he walked away from the farmstead last week.
His condition has been upgraded from serious to fair, a nursing supervisor said Monday.
Carl's brother, William, 98, also had wandered into the evening chill late Tuesday. He died shortly after he was found lying in a field early Wednesday by two deer hunters.
When neighbors failed to find Carl Larson at home, they began a search of the surrounding countryside with Red Lake County sheriff's deputies and volunteers from the Oklee Fire Department.
Edward Larson, no relation but a friend and neighbor of the Larson brothers, found Carl lying in a ditch about a tenth of a mile from home.
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"I thought he was a goner when I first came up," Edward said. "But I saw his foot move."
Carl was taken to MeritCare Hospital in Thief River Falls, where he was listed initially in serious condition.
"But he's still with us, and he's planning on coming home," Edward Larson said.
Edward and his wife, Sharon, visited Carl at the hospital.
"They're doing a little therapy with him," Edward said. "But for lying out in the elements all night, he didn't even get a cold. He was able to make a smile and said he felt strong, and he was looking forward to coming home.
"He said that William had been failing for some time. He had been sleeping close to 24 hours a day the past few days."
Carl said the brothers had been working in an outbuilding on the farm, skinning a deer someone had given them, when William apparently dozed off. Carl went to get coffee, but in the dark he "missed the house and got completely turned around," Edward Larson said. A yard light controlled from inside the house was turned off, and there were no lights on in the house.
"He told me, 'I wandered around. I was crawling. I saw your yard light and tried to make it, but I didn't.' Apparently William woke up, and Carl wasn't there, and he must have panicked and went looking for him."
