AC Gerald Martin Olsen 1935 - 2020

OLSEN, BAILEY

Posted By: Connie Swearingen- Volunteer (email)
Date: 12/16/2020 at 05:53:10

Sioux City Journal
26 August 2020

AC Gerald Martin Olsen

Port Charlotte, Fla., formerly Sioux City

AC Gerald Martin Olsen, 84, of Port Charlotte, Fla., formerly from Sioux City, went to be with his heavenly father Monday, Aug. 17, 2020, at Hospice House in Port Charlotte.

Services will be 1 p.m. Sept. 6, at First Presbyterian Church, 2230 Harriet Street, in Port Charlotte, with the Rev. Chuck Wiggins officiating. Private entombment will be in Section Three Mausoleum at Charlotte Memorial Cemetery. There will be a private viewing for family members from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Sept. 6, at Charlotte Memorial Funeral Home in Punta Gorda, Fla.

He was born to Josephine and Martin Bailey of Sioux City, on Aug. 18, 1935. His mother remarried, and he was adopted by Robert Olsen who raised him. He graduated from East High School in 1953, and initially attended Iowa State in Ames, Iowa. He transferred to Augustana College and graduated with a major in English and secondary education in 1957.

He met his wife, Lavelle, on a choir trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota, and they were married on Aug. 4, 1957.

He began his teaching career in Slayton, Minn. and in 1961, he and his family moved back to his hometown of Sioux City, where he taught English and German at Central and East High Schools for 35 years.

AC Gerald Olsen dedicated his life to public service. While teaching, he was a choir director at Morningside Lutheran, and St. James Methodist churches in Sioux City. He was proud of attaining his master’s degree in education at University of South Dakota in Vermillion. He was an athlete, and sports enthusiast; coached girls’ church basketball, and became a tennis coach for East High School.

He lost his son, Jay Christopher, in a drowning accident in 1976, but still maintained an optimistic attitude and faith in God.

He retired in 1991, and moved to Port Charlotte with his wife, Lavelle, in 1994 to live close to his daughter, Lori, son-in-law, Glenn, grandchildren, Jacqueline and Alexander. He and Lavelle helped raise Jacqueline and Alexander, and had close relationships with both grandchildren as they grew up.

Family survivors are his daughter; son-in-law; two grandchildren; and his brother, Robert Olsen Jr. of California.

The family would like to give a special thanks to the wonderful care and compassion shown by the physician/staff at Fawcett Memorial Hospital and Hospice House in Port Charlotte.