Dorothy Olson

Dorothy Jean (Haynes) Olson was born on September 23, 1924 in Spencer, S.D. to Ferne (Potter) and Harold Taylor Haynes, the third of four children. The family moved to Marshall, where Dorothy attended grade school and graduated from Marshall High School. In High School, she was on student Council, editor of the Tiger Herald, a varsity cheerleader and soloist in the school and church choirs. At the University of Minnesota, she studied Architecture and joined Delta Gamma Sorority. Her architectural studies were cut short in 1944, when she married dashing army air corps pilot, Glenn F. Olson, Marshall. After WW II, they made their home in Marshall and Glenn ran the family construction company, G.A. Olson Construction Co. Inc. Dorothy devoted herself to homemaking and raising four children. She was active in First Lutheran Church, participating in Ladies Aid, Circle and singing in the choir. She was a sixty-year member of PEO, Chapter AS, where she helped many young women obtain PEO Loan Funds. She supported her husband as President of G.A. Olson Construction Co. Inc., Marshall City Councilman, Marshall Charter Commission Chairman, Bremer Bank Trust Board Chairman, Associated General Contractors Board member, Lt. Colonel in Air Force Reserve and a founder of Westwood Acres. In 1979, the Olsons retired to Naples, FL. They joined Royal Poinciana Golf Club, First Presbyterian Church and Naples Sailing and Yacht Club, where Glenn was Commodore and Dorothy, First Mate. Survivors include her four children and ten grandchildren, Catherine Anderson, Minneapolis, her husband, Ed and their children, Ed of Boise, ID. and Stephanie; Stephen Olson, Liberty Creek, Alaska, his wife, Helen and their children, Gustaf Anderson, Solveig (husband Jeff) Johnson and Bjorn Anderson, Alaska; Jean Blomme, Marshall, her husband, Rich and their daughters, Regan, St. Paul, Greta, St. Peter, and Taylor; Todd Olson, Dallas, Texas, his wife, Jennifer and their children, Connor and Grace; brother, Dean Haynes, Rapid City, S.D. She was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Glenn of 52 years, in 1996; her parents, Harold and Ferne Haynes of Redfield, S.D.; sister, Lucille Tome, Amery, Wis.; brother Bill Haynes, Marshall. Since her hospitalization in Oct. 2006, Dorothy has been lovingly cared for in the home of her daughter, Jean Blomme. She received an outpouring of thoughtful expressions from her family and her many, many friends. Memorials are preferred to Prairie Home Hospice of Marshall.