Cres Michael Olson

Cres “Mike” Olson, technology businessman, outdoorsman, family man, devoted husband, Eagle Scout, Navy Veteran, Scoutmaster and Master Mason, died on December 21, 2016 in Seattle, Washington. He was nearly 85.

He brought his family and technology expertise from California to the Pacific Northwest in 1969 to lead Liberty Electronics of Seattle. He stayed in the business for over three decades more, eventually founding Olson Technical Sales Corporation of Bellevue, Washington - a manufacturers’ representative firm that brought semiconductors and other electronic parts to manufacturers throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia.

Mike Olson became a leader in the state Electronics Representatives Association and a Director of Northcon, an industry trade show. He named his sailboat “The Program” - an early nod in the mid-1970s to the region’s emerging software sector and symbol of his attachment to technology.

He was an early adopter of tech gadgets and products throughout his life. What began as infatuation with music and high fidelity sound led to a high fidelity sales job and business in Los Altos, California - which led to a semiconductor sales job and his primary career.

Mike was born in Phoenix, Arizona on March 6, 1932. His mother, Cynthia Viola Palmer, was from Stratford, Oklahoma. His father, Avon H. Reich, a chef, came from Texas.

He was schooled in Arizona, Oklahoma and Oregon before settling in California’s Santa Clara Valley, with his mother and beloved stepfather, Thor Emanuel Olson, a Swedish immigrant, whose name he took.

They lived among the fruit orchards that later became the heart of Silicon Valley. It’s where he became an Eagle Scout, and had jobs picking fruit, packing potato chips, as golf caddy and as a carpenter’s apprentice - acquiring tools and learning skills that benefitted many people for the rest of his life. He attended San Jose State College.

He joined the Navy in 1949 and was a seaman on the freighter USS Polaris at the start of the Korean War. The Navy career was cut short by an accident aboard ship that crushed one foot. Navy doctors successfully pinned the foot back together. His recuperation at the Oakland Naval Hospital took 10 months and 22 days. He was honorably discharged at age 19, learned to walk again, and became a competitive cyclist.

Mike Olson was not all business by any means. His foundation and focus was the welfare of his growing family. His interests were eclectic. He was always curious about how everything worked – and he could fix most anything with his many chests and walls of well-organized tools and gadgets and wires. He restored, built and showed sports cars with his twin boys. He sailed and skied and cycled and hunted and fished and hiked and camped and golfed and photographed things from Mexico to Hawaii to Canada, and Europe. He loved the landscapes of the American West, and studied its history. He was an early member of the Sierra Club – motivated to help save the Grand Canyon from development.

He served as Scoutmaster of Issaquah Troop 426 and led those boys onto the mountains and beaches, to lakes and rivers, tent camping in the sun, snow and rain – and taught them skills to survive in the region’s beautiful wild places.

He loved the arts and culture too – especially the Seattle Repertory Theater. His huge vinyl and reel-to-reel record collection ranged from classical, to pop and country - but was mostly jazz. It grew even bigger with digital. In Seattle, his radio was set at jazz 88.5 – unless the Huskies, Seahawks or Mariners were playing. He loved attending ballgames. And he complained that family members “moved too fast” at art museums. He was a regular at the gym for his last 50 fit years.

Mike also enjoyed good food and fine wine, which led him to create, with friends, Wine Merchant’s Inc., of Bellevue, a distributor of fine wines to stores and restaurants throughout the region. He made his own private label from grapes he picked, crushed, aged and bottled - including a “4th of July champagne” - which could be explosive.

When he retired to St. George, Utah, he became a Master Mason, member of the Scottish Rite, and a Shriner. Known as Cres to his Masonic brothers, he was honored for spending countless hours building a new temple for Lodge # 33 in Utah. Back in Seattle, he was an active member of Greenlake Lodge # 149, Scottish Rite - Seattle Valley and the Nile Shrine in Mountlake Terrace. He enjoyed the ceremony and the fraternity, the education, raising money for charity, and having fun with his Masonic brothers - which very often involved golf.

He met the love of his life 50 years ago. Mike was married to Carolyn Goble of Utah at Carmel-by-the-Sea, California on February 4, 1967. Their combined family of six boys soon included a new baby girl. They made their homes in Sunnyvale, California; Issaquah, Sammamish and Snoqualmie, Washington; St. George and eventually Seattle.

Mike was preceded in death by his stepfather, father and mother.

He is survived by his beloved bride and most constant companion, Carolyn, of Seattle; his sister Annabeth Slamka, of Phoenix; sons Creston and wife Donna, twins Kevin and Steven, and Steve’s wife Lori, of San Jose, (all sons of Mike’s first wife Shirley Ann Serpa); son Rick and his spouse Steve Glasner of Seattle; son Eric and his wife Anna of Paso Robles, California (Eric’s mother is the late Mary Kay Beatty of Sea Ranch, California, Mike’s second wife.); son Russell Peterson and his wife Kathy of Lake Stevens, Washington and daughter Michelle Nunes and her husband Greg, of Folsom, California.

His seven grandchildren gave their “Papa” tremendous joy and he took great pride in their progress in sports, music, school and faith. They are: Creston Olson Junior, Melissa and Brianna Peterson, Joshua and Luke Olson and Hannah and Madelyn Nunes.

A celebration of the life of Cres Michael Olson is planned for Sunday, January 22, at 1 p.m. at the Nile Shrine Center, 6601 224th Street SW, in Mountlake Terrace, Washington.

Remembrances is his honor may be made to Shriners Hospitals for Children at:

http://www.shrinershospitalsforchildren.org/donate

Arrangements under the direction of Bleitz Funeral Home, Seattle, WA.