Marlin Olson saw adventure in serving others
Published 9:39 pm Saturday, January 17, 2009
EVERETT — In life, Marlin Olson saw his share of adventure.
Born on July 29 in Triumph, Minn., he graduated and joined the U.S. Navy and became a submariner in the last years of World War II.
He was stationed aboard the USS Sennet. After the war in the Pacific, the Sennet was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, where it participated in Operation Highjump, the third expedition to Antarctica by Adm. Richard Byrd.
Marlin Olson’s wife Guni Olson remembers her husband’s descriptions of the expedition as if they happened only yesterday.
“He was a young kid, 18 years old at the time, and it was very exciting for him,” Guni Olson said. “They were trying to do some exploration with the sub and see how it would handle in the ice. And then it got stuck.”
A mutual friend encouraged Marlin Olson to attend Seattle Pacific College after he left the Navy. It was there he was introduced to Guni, and he married her before graduation. He then went to Michigan State University and earned a doctorate in education.
When they returned, the couple taught in the Shoreline School District for five years and then moved to Taiwan in 1958 to work in a school. He was the elementary principal and she was the librarian.
“We loved teaching there; it was international, interdenominational work — a great challenge that was very rewarding,” Guni Olson said.
Children from the local U.S. base and consulate around Taipei were enrolled in the school and the number of students grew at a substantial rate. Interaction with students and staff made the school a success, Guni Olson said.
After coming home in 1971, he accepted a position as the director of Christian education at Berean Bible Church, and then was named academic dean at Grace Bible College in Michigan.
After working in Michigan for a time, he once again felt the pull of teaching abroad and so he and his wife went to work in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, with their son.
“They needed an administrator and a librarian at the school down there, so we went,” Guni Olson said. “His passion was being of service, being helpful.
Marlin Olson died on Dec. 26. He was 82.
The Everett man is survived by his wife, Guni Olson; daughter Cheryl and her husband, Walt Pullen, of Monroe; daughter Deborah and her husband, Jack Dean, of Harbor Springs, Mich.; son Jerry and his wife, DeAnna Olson, of Santa Cruz, Bolivia; and daughter Marlei Olson of Franklin, Tenn.
Reporter Justin Arnold: 425-339-3432 or jarnold@heraldnet.com.
