Obituary of Jean Marie Olstad

Jean Marie Olstad, 94, of 66 St. Marie St. Duluth, MN, slipped away May 26 in the simple silence left by an evening’s pause in the richly profuse offerings of love at her bedside. She would say  it was her way of finally having the last word.

Jean was born in St. Cloud, raised in Minneapolis and Fargo and graduated from the University of Minnesota with a BS in Music Education. She raised her girls and sold real estate  in White Bear Lake, MN but spent her most carefree years with Jerry in Hot Springs Village, AR playing bridge, going to book group, singing with the Cedar Mt singers,  gathering with friends for Friday popcorn, decorating houses Jerry built, planting flowers, and tending Charlie, the cat. Friends will remember her challenging intellect, love of good fun, and hospitality. Family will  never forget her spontaneous  recitations of dialect rich story poems and the relish with which she both played piano and listened to her great grandchildren play.

Jean instilled a love of theatre in her own children, amazing them with roles as diverse as The Girl in “The Seven Year Itch” and Miss Skillon in “See How They Run”. With Jerry she performed in The Geritol Frolics, even at The Kennedy Center in DC. for a conference on aging. Jean is preceded in death by parents Clara Rosalie Burditt and Wallace Max Larson, sister Rosalie  Schwalier and beloved husband, Gerald C Olstad. Surviving are daughters Kimberly and Andrea Herschler; stepchildren Jane, Steve, and Nancy Olstad and their spouses and children; nephews Terry and Chuck Schwalier and niece Christine and their spouses and children; also grandchild, Keegan Hartley, and wife, Becky, and great grandchildren Roslyn, 15, and Lachlan, 12, and granddogs Tansy Rue and Teddy.

A private memorial service is planned. Many thanks to the Essentia Hospice Team without whom we couldn’t have stayed home loving Jean until the end.