John Edward Olsen

John Edward Olsen, passed away peacefully in Seattle, WA on Tuesday, July 22nd. Born to Edward and Lenore Olsen in Bozeman, January 3, 1949, and lived in the Gallatin Valley for many years. Graduating from Holy Rosary High School, he entered the Marine Corps at age 18, followed by his months of service in Viet Nam, in 1968-1969.

Stationed along the DMZ, as a Forward Observer, he called in air strikes, artillery, and Naval gun fire. During this time, he wrote beautiful poetry and made charcoal drawings of life there. He returned in 1969 to Cuba, where he patrolled the fences on the border at Guantanamo. “Semper Fedelis” in Latin for “always faithful”, is the Marine motto. John adopted this into, and upheld it, his entire life- as a husband, father, brother and friend. He attended M.S.C., where he majored in English with a minor in Mass Communication. He taught Broad Field Speech Communication.

John was married to Louise Dorfman from 1976-1996. They built an A-frame home near Castle Rock, in the Gallatin Canyon. They had daughter Timia Telsa Olsen while living in Spokane, Washington in1983. He was so proud of her, now in her ninth year as a Seattle EMT. His dream came true to walk her down the aisle this past April, on her birthday.

From 1986-1988, the family resided in Santa Barbara, California close to the Dorfman grandparents. They then purchased a home on Vashon Island, Washington, where he worked for three Boeing executives. He was well known for his wood-working talents with his Vines & Flowers business, many featuring the bending of wood for stairways, decks, and his specialty-carved wooden butterflies of an extreme size. Even a swinging wooden chair basket he named “Timia’s Tulip”.

After separating in 1996, John moved to Maui, HI for five years. It was there he was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He then purchased a condo on the Big Island, in Hilo, where he loved living for the remainder of his life. He loved the “aloha spirit” and singing karaoke, especially in Kona. John wrote and had his own book-"Central Equilibrium"- published in 2016 (available on-line). In 2015 he started a non-profit and two for-profit corporations attached to a garden developed for Veterans in Hilo. A final quote from John:

“At that time, I was incredibly perturbed at the human race for not respecting planet Earth. Since that time, I have seen that we will solve the problems we have, if we work together and if we all help each other.”

“God bless you and remember”-

"Gardens are given to those who can tend them".

John is survived by daughter Timia Olsen (Saul Hudacin), Louise Olsen, sisters- Cecelia Goodman & Elizabeth Raol (Pradyuman Raol), and several loving nieces and nephews.