Reverend David E. Olson, Sr. of McKinleyville passed away February 22, 2002 at the age of 87, after a battle with Parkinson’s and dementia.

It’s a hard truth, that everyone dies eventually. But do they “live?” Rev. Olson was born on April 22, 1932 in Kansas City, Missouri, the fifth of seven children. He had many interests. He studied at HSU for nine years garnering a few diplomas. He became a Baptist minister by studying at the Berkeley Divinity School in the early ‘60s. During his working life he was a Baptist minister, but also a schoolteacher, a motel manager, a salesman, and a security guard.

He traveled a great deal and owned many Volkswagens, served in the Korean war, rescued dozens of stray cats who had been abandoned where he worked, and fed the feral cats he couldn’t persuade to come home with him. He collected and enjoyed coins. He sang a lot, including in the early ‘50s throughout Japan with a Barbershop Quartet, and played the guitar. He loved to accompany himself singing one particular Hawaiian song to the delight of his audience.  He loved to read westerns and the Bible, played chess, had good humor, good family, and loved his wife and God.

He married his wife Judy at the First Baptist Church of Arcata on February 7, 1960 in a double wedding ceremony with his sister Patty and brother-in-law, the late Gary Still. Of food? He didn’t eat such great food, as he ate anything and one of his favorites was white bread soaked in hot milk. (Norwegians!)

Yes, he lived. He loved and was loved.

He is survived by six children; David, Jr., Becque, Eric, Daniel, Edward, and Steven and three grandsons; Sven, Sajien, and Jasper, and daughter-in-law Megan as well as dozens of beloved nieces and nephews. And now he joins his wife Judy, his daughter Jacqueline, his granddaughter Chloe, his father and mother Leon and Beulah Olson, also of McKinleyville, three of his brothers, Leon, Theodore, and Edward, and one of his sisters, Orabelle Royce among others in Heaven. According to his wishes, Rev. Olson was cremated at Gobles Fortuna Mortuary and his ashes will be interred with his wife’s grave in Greenwood Cemetery in Arcata.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Vivian Eilers’ loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.