Olga Neuhaus

Mom was born in Detroit, Michigan on November 26, 1926 to Anthony and Mary Zeiter. She was the 6th of 8 children. She was just beginning grammar school when her father decided to move the family west to California. So he put a mattress in the back of a pick-up, loaded up the kids and headed for the Pacific Ocean.

Along the way, rumor has it that he may have rolled the truck but everyone survived and arrived in one piece “settling” in Stockton, CA. Here they moved 9 times (actually living in a motel at one point) until they settled into a small white house on Oak Street.

Mom developed her love for football listening to the Stockton High football games on radio every Friday night. Her uncle played for Stockton High and the entire family loved to hear his name announced during the game.

After she graduated from high school, she entered the workforce and eventually ended up at a title company where she met her future husband, Lee Neuhaus. They married in 1954 and started a family in 1955. By 1956 Dad had been transferred to another title company in Fresno and Mom was a full time homemaker. They eventually settled into a home on Cornell Avenue with 3 kids in tow.

Dad passed in 1984 and Mom didn’t waste any time finding a full time job. She worked for California Industrial Services for 20+ years, helped raise 6 grandchildren, beat cancer twice, and enjoyed an occasional margarita while playing slot machines. She pulled out her suitcases in the mid 1980’s and never looked back. She travelled on family vacations and internationally with her friends. She refused to live in pain and thought if surgery could fix it…why hesitate. That earned her the nick name of the ‘6 Million Dollar Woman’ but to us she was priceless!

She was known for her unwavering faith in God, her love of family and her cooking (known far and wide for her chicken scaloppini, baklava, cheesecake, French toast, grape leaves, kibbee and just about anything else she put in front of us ) .

We will miss her terribly.

She is survived by her children Karen (spouse Charles) Duck of Visalia, Kurt (spouse Diane) Neuhaus of Fresno and Eric Neuhaus of Sacramento. She has 6 grandchildren: Christopher Duck of San Diego, Steven (spouse Lauren) Duck of Visalia, Nicole and Kristen Neuhaus of Fresno and Rachel and Elijah Neuhaus of Sacramento. And she had just become the great-grandmother of Theodore Michael Duck of Visalia.

She was preceded in death by her husband Lee Neuhaus, her daughter-in-law Ann Neuhaus of Sacramento, her parents and 7 siblings.