Life Sketch of Russell Robert Olson

Russ was born to Robert and Marie Olson on December 12, 1951. He grew up in Minnetonka, MN with his brother Larry and near his maternal grandparents and his aunt and uncle.

Russ and Larry spent endless hours exploring the area around their home. In the winter they would ice skate on the lake near their home until their hands and feet were so cold they sometimes even ended up with frost bite. The neighborhood as they knew it ran approximately a half mile down one road with about 15 kids all living on large acreage lots. Weekends and summers were all spent outside playing baseball, football, tag, capture the flag, hockey, water fights -- you name it they played it. It was a great place to grow up. They were out-the-door in the morning, home for supper and back out again.

Larry remembers his brother not always conforming to rules – just having a unique way of looking at things. One of his first memories of this came when Russ was about 8 and Larry 4. Larry was looking for Russ and could not find him. He asked his parents and they said, “He’s in the doghouse.” Naturally, since they had a dog who did stay outside in a doghouse, that’s where Larry went to look. Not finding Russ, he went back inside and learned what “in the doghouse” meant; today’s version of “time out.”

In Russ and Larry’s neighborhood there was a big hill that overlooked a small lake. Half way up the hill was the road that went through the neighborhood. From the road the kids had a pretty good trail that went through the woods, turned to the right and stopped at the lake. In the winter it made a great sliding hill. They would start at the road with sleds or wooden toboggans and see who could go out onto the lake the furthest. Well, one year Russ decided they were only using half of the hill; they needed to make things more exciting – why not slide down the top half of the hill, cross the road and then on down to the lake. Besides, the road was a great natural jump. A few of the younger kids were stationed to watch for cars while the idea was tried out. At first it worked fine, but as the snow got more packed down, the speeds increased and, Russ being Russ having a great time, went over the road and veered off into the trees. Larry and the other kids all went to see if he was OK; he said he was but that his leg hurt. He tried getting up but couldn’t. So the kids put him on the toboggan and pulled him the half mile home. Later they found out that Russ had torn some muscles in his leg.

Russ and Larry grew up in a great family in a great neighborhood in a great time when kids could be kids. As any siblings, they had their fights and tussles, but Larry remembers Russ as a good brother who helped him grow up; 2 brothers who loved each other.

As a boy, Russ was part of the Boy Scouts. There he learned camping and outdoor activities that he enjoyed all his life. He made bug and butterfly collections and learned about astronomy and always enjoyed finding the star constellations with his daughters. He learned many survival skills as a Scout that he used throughout his life.