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Memorial Service Held for Pastor Willis A. Olson
RENO, NV (October 7, 2001) - Longtime Covenant pastor and teacher Willis A. Olson died September 20 in Reno at the age of 80, following a 25-year teaching career at Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and pastoral ministry at numerous Covenant churches throughout the Midwest.
Born January 16, 1921, Olson interspersed his pastoral ministry with work as a science teacher and author. He published material on mosses that is still used today. He received pastoral education at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago in 1942. He then took undergraduate courses North Park College in Chicago before finishing his undergraduate education at the University of Minnesota-Duluth in 1952. He later earned a Master of Science Education degree at the University of Wisconsin and finished theological education at North Park Theological Seminary in 1970, the year he was ordained as a Covenant pastor.
He and his wife, Lydia, were married February 7, 1946. He began his pastoral ministry shortly thereafter at Lakeview Covenant Church in Duluth. He pastored for two years in Minnesota before accepting a teaching position at Glade Valley School in Glade Valley, North Carolina, from 1948-51.
Olson returned to ministry for two years at Gethsemene Covenant Church in Duluth before becoming a teacher at Minnehaha Academy in 1953. He served at Minnehaha for 17 years in combination with parish ministry at six different Covenant churches. He left Minnehaha for full-time ministry as pastor of Bethany Covenant Church of Ironwood, Michigan, from 1970-74. Then he returned to the Twin Cities for another eight years of teaching at Minnehaha before retiring in 1983. He had joined Bethlehem Covenant as a member in 1974 and taught confirmation and occasionally used his musical talents as a recorder player.
During retirement, Olson conducted worship services for 12 years at Manor Care Center, a nursing home in Reno. He and his wife, Lydia, who died December 30, 2000, had lived near daughter Nancy.
A memorial service for Olson was held September 23 at St. John's Presbyterian Church in Reno, where he attended in his later years. He is survived by daughters Nancy and Joan and four grandchildren.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
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