Published: Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Peggy Pritchard Olson always put Edmonds first
The councilwoman, who died Monday, is remembered as generous and hard-working.
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Chris Goodenow / Enterprise
Edmonds City Council member Peggy Pritchard Olson listens at a City Council meeting on May 13, 2008.
EDMONDS — Peggy Pritchard Olson, a city councilwoman who announced in April 2008 that she had Lou Gehrig’s disease, died at her home Monday morning. She was 59.
The daughter of Joel Pritchard, the late Republican state senator, lieutenant governor and congressman, Pritchard Olson was halfway through her second four-year council term, after running unopposed in 2007.
She won election to her first term in November 2003.
“From the time that she became involved in community service with the city, she was focused on all the 40,000 people in town,” Mayor Gary Haakenson said Monday. “Every decision she made was based on what was best for the people of Edmonds.”
On her birthday in April 2008, Pritchard Olson learned she had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, an incurable degenerative neurological disorder.
As the disease progressed, Pritchard Olson gradually lost her ability to speak and was escorted by her husband, Norm, and helpers to council meetings in a wheelchair.
“This makes you look at things differently,” she said shortly after her diagnosis. “Now it is all about family and friends.”
Pritchard Olson continued to attend council meetings, missing only one before her death.
At her last council meeting, Nov. 2, she presented written support for a proposal to have Snohomish County Fire District 1 provide the city’s fire and emergency medical services.
“I kind of peered over and asked the caregivers that were there if she needed to go home,” Haakenson said. “They said, ‘Nope, she’s fine, she wants to stay.’ ” The mayor said he walked over to Pritchard Olson and said, “ ‘Well I want to go home.’ She looked at me and just laughed.”
Pritchard Olson was active in community affairs for more than 20 years. She was a longtime member of Friends of the Edmonds Library and South Snohomish County Cities, comprised of elected leaders.
“She helped me tremendously during my first couple months on the council,” said councilman Ron Wambolt. “She was always very generous because of her decades of political experience.”
She served several years on the executive board of Mainstream Republicans of Washington, an organization of GOP moderates. In its early days, the group recruited candidates in the mold of her father Joel, whose political success came in part because of his ability to work with Democrats in forging state and federal policy.
“Peggy really was carrying forward her father’s legacy of a moderate, inclusive Republican who operated in the political sphere in a very congenial way,” said Secretary of State Sam Reed, a founder and continuing leader of the group.
“I really loved Peggy,” said Reed, a friend. “I’m deeply, deeply saddened to hear this news.”
Library board member Marianne Burkhart worked with Pritichard Olson as a volunteer with a grassroots effort that opposed early plans to build sewer lines for King County’s wastewater treatment plant, Brightwater, in and around Edmonds. They’ve been friends since.
“Peggy was just an outstanding human being,” she said. “All of her friends, when she was diagnosed with this, marveled at her attitude. I asked one time, ‘Peggy, how could you do this?’ She said, ‘That’s just how I was raised. My family always said, you just plug away, you can’t do anything about it so just accept it and get along with life.’ ”
Herald reporter Jerry Cornfield contributed to this article.
Oscar Halpert: 425-339-3429, ohalpert@heraldnet.com
The daughter of Joel Pritchard, the late Republican state senator, lieutenant governor and congressman, Pritchard Olson was halfway through her second four-year council term, after running unopposed in 2007.
She won election to her first term in November 2003.
“From the time that she became involved in community service with the city, she was focused on all the 40,000 people in town,” Mayor Gary Haakenson said Monday. “Every decision she made was based on what was best for the people of Edmonds.”
On her birthday in April 2008, Pritchard Olson learned she had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, an incurable degenerative neurological disorder.
As the disease progressed, Pritchard Olson gradually lost her ability to speak and was escorted by her husband, Norm, and helpers to council meetings in a wheelchair.
“This makes you look at things differently,” she said shortly after her diagnosis. “Now it is all about family and friends.”
Pritchard Olson continued to attend council meetings, missing only one before her death.
At her last council meeting, Nov. 2, she presented written support for a proposal to have Snohomish County Fire District 1 provide the city’s fire and emergency medical services.
“I kind of peered over and asked the caregivers that were there if she needed to go home,” Haakenson said. “They said, ‘Nope, she’s fine, she wants to stay.’ ” The mayor said he walked over to Pritchard Olson and said, “ ‘Well I want to go home.’ She looked at me and just laughed.”
Pritchard Olson was active in community affairs for more than 20 years. She was a longtime member of Friends of the Edmonds Library and South Snohomish County Cities, comprised of elected leaders.
“She helped me tremendously during my first couple months on the council,” said councilman Ron Wambolt. “She was always very generous because of her decades of political experience.”
She served several years on the executive board of Mainstream Republicans of Washington, an organization of GOP moderates. In its early days, the group recruited candidates in the mold of her father Joel, whose political success came in part because of his ability to work with Democrats in forging state and federal policy.
“Peggy really was carrying forward her father’s legacy of a moderate, inclusive Republican who operated in the political sphere in a very congenial way,” said Secretary of State Sam Reed, a founder and continuing leader of the group.
“I really loved Peggy,” said Reed, a friend. “I’m deeply, deeply saddened to hear this news.”
Library board member Marianne Burkhart worked with Pritichard Olson as a volunteer with a grassroots effort that opposed early plans to build sewer lines for King County’s wastewater treatment plant, Brightwater, in and around Edmonds. They’ve been friends since.
“Peggy was just an outstanding human being,” she said. “All of her friends, when she was diagnosed with this, marveled at her attitude. I asked one time, ‘Peggy, how could you do this?’ She said, ‘That’s just how I was raised. My family always said, you just plug away, you can’t do anything about it so just accept it and get along with life.’ ”
Herald reporter Jerry Cornfield contributed to this article.
Oscar Halpert: 425-339-3429, ohalpert@heraldnet.com
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