GLENBURN, MN (March 16, 2012) – Funeral services are pending for retired Evangelical Covenant Church pastor Donald L. Olson, 85, who died Thursday night.
Olson was born March 11, 1927, in Petaluma, California. He graduated the College of the Pacific in 1956 and North Park Theological Seminary in 1961.
Olson married Mildred Helgerson on June 24, 1961. Survivors include his wife and four children.
Covenant News Service will publish additional information as it becomes available.
I will always remember Don Olson with great fondness. I first met him while he was a student at North Park Theological Seminary and he attended my home church, Immanuel Mission Covenant Church. Don was always a faithful, gentle, humble and caring man of God. As a pastor, he always cared deeply for his people. Our prayers are with Millie and the rest of his family. May our Lord comfort them in their loss with the peace that can only come from Him at a time like this.
There was no room in the inn (Burgh Hall) for five bachelor seminarians who had signed up for room and board in the fall of 1958, so we were assigned to share an apartment in the married seminarian apartments at Foster and Spaulding. Don Olson was the oldest and I was the youngest. I cherish the memories of those men in that year. Three of them are already with the Lord. now that Don has joined them. They treated me like an equal when I was, and like a little brother when I needed it–and called it right every time. The last time I saw him face to face was at the Centennial Annual Meeting, 1985. He asked modestly if I remembered him. You bet I did, with joy and gratitude, and still do. My hug sealed the deal.