Olga Modersohn died at Querencia of Barton Creek in Austin, Texas, on July 1, 2020, at age 92. Olly, as she was called, was born August 24, 1927, in New Jersey to Joseph and Helen Semanik Mikula. Her ashes will be interred with those of her husband, Robert John Modersohn Jr., in Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery. He died less than two months before Olly on May 7. Cook-Walden Forest Oaks Funeral Home is handling the arrangements. No funeral will be held at this time.
Olly and her younger brother, George, grew up on East 8th Street in Clifton, New Jersey. She met the man she would marry and spend the rest of her life with while they were working as drafters at the same business right after WWII. Bob used to adjust a mirror on his desk so he could see Olly at her own desk. They married June 8, 1947, in Saints Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox Church in Passaic, New Jersey. After honeymooning in Atlantic City, they returned to Clifton to live in an upstairs apartment in a house her father built next door to the one where she had grown up. Olly worked at Federal Telephone Company and Bob was a radio technician.
Over the next several years, Olly and Bob had sons Robert and Richard and built their own house. They made lifelong friends in New Jersey, people with whom Olly kept in touch well into her 80s. As a young woman, Olly indulged her creative talents with art lessons. She would build on those skills, painting china dishware, still lifes and even a scene centered on the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy, which a grandson hung in his home. Olly’s love of fine art extended to ballet and opera, as well. She and Bob attended many performances during their later years in Austin, Texas.
Bob joined 3M in the 1950s and in the 1960s he and Olly moved their family to Mendota Heights, Minnesota. Bob’s job took him to Belgium and then to Germany for multi-year stints where Olly enjoyed entertaining visitors and touring the rest of Europe. During this time, Olly selected many of the watercolors and oils that would hang in her subsequent homes for decades, eventually brightening the walls of her skilled nursing room.
Olly and Bob settled in the western hills of Austin, Texas, in the 1980s. In retirement, Bob cultivated the landscape surrounding their home and Olly did the planning and cooking for their frequent dinner parties, becoming known for her osso buco. She and Bob continued to travel internationally, touring Europe and Russia with their friends. Christmases with Olly and Bob became a favorite family holiday for their sons and grandsons over the years.
Olly and Bob loved and took care of each other for nearly 73 years. They were a team. Her often-heard admonition in seeking to keep him healthy, “Oh, Bob!” is now a favorite family memory. “Cheers,” Olly, we will always remember you.
Olly is survived by son Robert John III (Ellen) of Lansing, Iowa; grandsons Seth David (Kristian) of Los Angeles, Mark Jacob (Melissa) of Dallas, and Dylan Putnam of Vermont; great-grandchildren Luke Jacob, Ashlen Paige, Jacob Robert, Ariel Mina and Gabriel Mack; and sister-in-law Norma Hackos of Jackson, New Jersey. Olly was preceded in death by husband Bob, son Richard George and daughter-in-law Linda, of Bryan, Ohio, and brother Joseph George Mikula, of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
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