Joan Louise Olson

At age 3, Joan’s father was killed in an underground mining accident. She attended Tower-Soudan, MN schools graduating in June 1956. She then attended Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN, and graduated from the University of Wyoming with a B.S. in Home Economics in June 1960.

Joan completed an Administrative Dietetics internship at Ohio State University where she received an M.S. in Institution Management in 1961. In 1962, she was employed at Montana State University as Assistant Director of Residence Halls. While in Bozeman, she met and married her husband of 58 years, Carl Olson, on July 2, 1963. They moved to Stillwater, OK where their first son, Carl J., was born in November of 1965. The family moved to Fargo, ND, where daughter Jane E. was born in January of 1968. In 1969, they moved to Laramie, WY where daughter Jennifer L. was born in January of 1971.

In Laramie, Joan worked in the Financial Aid office at the University of Wyoming where she was the Assistant Director in charge of student loans. She was also a correspondence study instructor in nutrition and in personal finance for U.W. for over 20 years.

Carl and Joan moved to Lincoln, NE in 2011 to be closer to family and were members of Southwood Lutheran Church. Joan was well-known and loved by her neighbors, as she walked two miles daily, and there wasn’t a dog in the neighborhood she didn’t know! In addition to brightening patients’ days at Madonna Rehab with her therapy dog, Jesse, she enjoyed making and selling dishcloths and scrubbies, trying out new recipes, and growing and sharing tomatoes.

Joan is preceded in death by her parents, sister Shirley Dalles, brother James Hill, husband Carl Olson, and her beloved yellow Labrador Retriever, Jesse.

Grateful for having shared her life are her relatives: three children: Carl Olson of Wichita, KS, Jane (Jamie) Kerl of Lincoln, and Jennifer Olson of Hutchinson, KS. She is also survived by six grandchildren: Spencer (Erin) Kerl, Emily Kerl (Kenny McFarland), Stephanie Moore, C.J., Charlie and Tillie Belcher, and three great grandchildren: Peyton Vogt and Nell and Sawyer Kerl.

Memorial service to be 2:00 pm Thursday, May 30 at Lincoln Memorial Funeral Home, 6800 S. 14th Street in Lincoln. Visitation will be 1 hour prior to the service. For more information go to www.lincolnfh.com In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Joan are suggested to the Pet Partners Pet Therapy Program (petpartners.org).