Gerhardt Walter Olson Obituary (1916 - 2009)

Our hearts are heavy with the passing of Gerhardt Walter Olson, on July 18, 2009. Gerhardt was born on January 26, 1916, in Bowdle, South Dakota, to Reverend Otto P. Keller and Adeline Giem Keller. After his father's passing in 1916, Gerhardt was later adopted by his step-father Dr. Oscar Olson and raised with his five brothers and two sisters. Gerhardt completed his schooling in Bowdle in 1933 and then assisted his father in his dental office as a Dental and Laboratory Technician. In 1935, he attended the University of South Dakota, majored in Pre-Medicine, and joined the brotherhood of the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity. Having to quit college due to the financial strain on his family, Gerhardt began working for the Nion Corporation, a vitamin company, as a Salesman traveling all over the West Coast. It was through these travels, that he met and fell in love with Beverlee Jewell, whom he married on New Years Eve 1939. Gerhardt continued to work for the Nion Corporation before he was drafted into the Navy in 1944 in which he chose to serve as a Hospital Apprentice First Class USNR until he was discharged in 1946. After his service in the Navy, Gerhardt returned to the Nion Corporation which transferred him to Gardena, California where he and Beverlee raised their two children, Richard Harry Olson and Gery Sue Olson. In 1949, Gerhardt began to work for the Pfizer Pharmaceutical Corporation and proudly retired after 29 years of service. After 23 years of glorious marriage, Beverlee left Gerhardt to be with the Lord. Through his travels with Pfizer and visits to doctor's offices, Gerhardt met a lovely X-Ray technician named Agnes Loriane Bollinger, whom he fell in love with and married in 1962. With Agnes, he welcomed her son Robert Bollinger to the family. After retiring from Pfizer, Agnes and Gerhardt moved to Henryetta, Oklahoma where they happily lived for 33 years until Agnes passed away in August of 1995. In 1997, Gerhardt moved to Tucson, Arizona to live with his daughter, Gery Sue and her family. He enjoyed his hands-on part in raising their two daughters, Kelli and Tamara, and enjoyed spending his days gardening and tending to his beautiful rosebushes, cooking many delicious meals including his famous barbequed ribs, exercising on his stationary bike, and enjoying his time with his many close animal companions. In 2001, Gerhardt had a fateful meeting with the beautiful Mary Nielsen, the grandmother of his future grandson-in-law Kevin Gibbs. For the next 8 years, Gerhardt and Mary lived, laughed, and loved together through their weekly dinner and lunch dates, vacation cruises to Hawaii and Alaska, and endless everyday phone conversations. Her companionship and love brought Gerhardt the greatest joy in the last years of his life. Gerhardt was a member of the Masonic Order, The Grand Lodge of California, and The American Legion. He enjoyed basketball and track in his youth and participated in ballroom and square dancing with friends and neighbors in his adulthood. Gerhardt was always supportive of the passions of his children and grandchildren by attending ski trips, teaching them how to fish, cheering them on at swim and gymnastic competitions, and by watching whatever sporting event was being televised by their particular colleges. He also enjoyed being a part of his granddaughters' high school and college graduations and being a part or their weddings. Gerhardt loved his family, relished spending time with loved ones, and blessed all those around him with his big smile and quick wit. All who met him commented on what a gentleman he was. He was a warm and loyal friend, a loving and supportive husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather who will be sorely missed by all those whose lives he touched. Click Here to view the memorial service for Gerhardt Olson.