Dr. John Arthur Olson, 1921-2008
My Hero
John Arthur Olson, 86, passed away at Somerset House in Oak Harbor, Vero Beach, Florida, on February 18, 2008.
He was born in Beresford, South Dakota to Elma Nelsen Olson and Arthur Ralph Olson. He lived in Omaha, Nebraska as a teenager and attended the University of Omaha. He married Mary Katherine Wyrick in 1943. He was a private in the US Army in World War II. The Army put him through medical school at the University of Wisconsin. During the Korean War, he was a captain and physician in the US Air Force in Geneva, NY.
After his military service, he became a general practitioner in 1952 in Cranford, NJ, where he was a member of the Presbyterian Church. He was a director and actor in the Cranford Dramatic Club. While in Cranford, he founded Hockagee House, a center for troubled young people. He was named Citizen of the Year in 1970 by the Cranford Chamber of Commerce for outstanding service to the community. He was also recognized by the Cranford Mayors Committee on Drug Abuse for his friendship, guidance and concern for the community.
In 1972, he and his family moved to Brant Beach, NJ, where he became an emergency room doctor at Southern Ocean County Hospital in Manahawkin, NJ. In 1989, the Hospitals board of trustees honored him for his fifteen years of service as chief of the emergency room.
In 1989, they moved to their house on the river in Ambersand Beach in Vero Beach, Florida. He served as an emergency room physician at Indian River Memorial Hospital and other area hospitals and clinics until 1997, when he retired and moved to the Grand Harbor community in Vero Beach. They moved to Oak Harbor in Vero Beach in 2006. He was a member of the Community Church in Vero Beach.
Dr. Olson loved travel, opera, boating, snow and water skiing, tennis, golf and bridge.
He loved his family, which includes his brother Calvin R. Olson who predeceased him and his brother Arthur R. (Bud) Olson of Scottsdale, AZ.
In addition to his wife of 64 years Mary Katherine Olson, he is survived by five children (and their spouses), thirteen grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. They are: son Robert W. Olson and his wife Carol, of Cincinnati, OH and Snowmass Village, CO and their son John (and wife Joy) and daughter Mary Catherine; son Steven A. Olson of Long Beach, CA and his wife Jane Hamilton and his daughter Cyndi and son David; son Gregory J. Olson and his wife Rosalind Willis of Weaverville, NC and his son Kale (and wife Sarah) and daughter Rosemary and their daughter Albiona and sons Tai and Leif; son James C. Olson and his wife Sharon of Oakland, CA and their daughter Lindsay and son Peter; and daughter Christine Marie Welsh and her husband Fred Welsh of Yamba, Australia and their daughter Casey and son Colby. The great-grand children are Meade and Loulie Olson and Noel Peace. He is also survived by his nieces Rebecca Brown and Jennifer Ralls and nephews Christopher and Michael Olson.
A visitation will be held Sunday, February 24, 2008, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Cox-Gifford-Seawinds Funeral Home, 1950 20th St., Vero Beach, FL. A memorial service will be held Monday, February 25, 2008 at 10:30 a.m. in the chapel of the Community Church of Vero Beach. Everyone is invited to a luncheon following the memorial service at the Oak Harbor Clubhouse dining room. A second memorial will be held this spring in Beresford, SD, where he will be interred next to his father, mother and brother.
Memorial contributions may be made to the VNA Hospice of Indian River County, 1110 35th Lane, Vero Beach, FL 32960..
Arrangements are under the direction of Cox-Gifford-Seawinds Funeral Home and Crematory, Vero Beach, Florida. Condolences may be sent through www.seawindsfh.com/obit.php
Love, Mary