Obituary of Delores Vivian Olson

DeLores Vivian Olson of East Lansing MI passed away Jan. 7, 2020 of natural causes at the age of 101. She is survived by her daughter, Charlene (Jeff) Smith and her son Kirk (Gina) Olson, 7 grandchildren, Erik (Jill) & Kyle(Shannon) Smith, Ian (Kirsten ) Olson & Kate (Jen Wenzel) Stroud, Trevor (Desiree), Kyle (Yeni) & Chet (Jennifer) Friesen and 19 great grandchildren, Caleb, Colton, Caden, Gabe & Tre Smith, Sam & Ella Stroud, Emma & Abby Olson, Kayla, Kyle & Kaleb Stites, Jackie Behrens, Drew, Troy, Mia, Camilla, Lilly & Mason Friesen. Dee was born in Duluth MN on April 9, 1918 to Esther (Sederberg) Berg and Vincent Berg. Her family, including an older sister Virginia and a younger brother Blair, moved to Minneapolis where she spent the rest of her early years. At 12 she was the first girl to win the Minneapolis Marble Championship with a chipped marble given to her by her brother, a fellow contestant. After completing high school she went to business school while working. Dee was very active in her church choir and began dating Ted, also a chior member, a student at U of Minnesota. Both had grown up in that church. In 1940 Ted asked Dee to come marry him in Detroit, where he was working at Chrylser as a metallugical engineer. His brother drove Dee to Detroit singing "fools rush in". In 1943 Charlene was born followed by Kirk in 1947. After several moves in the Detroit area they bought a home in Royal Oak and in 1950 moved to Beverky Hills . In 1955 Dee brushed up on her shorthand and helped Ted go into business for himself. Over the years she served as President of her garden club and of the Minnesota Womens Club. The latter suceeded in raising an amount of money for U of Minnesota such that they were finally recognized an official part of alumni even tough they were women, many actually were alums. Dee and Ted were world travelers, Austrailia, Europe, Carribean, Hawaii, United States, Scotland to play St Andrews to name a few destinations. They visited Sweden connecting with relatives. Dee's grandparents had imigrated from Sweden as had Ted's parents. Dee's favorite activity was Golf. She loved time with friends and always loved a party as hostess or guest. In 2003 Dee and Ted moved to Fox Run, a retirement community in Novi. Ted passed in Oct of 2007, in 2011 Dee moved to IV in East Lansing to be closer to Charlene, Kirk was living in Gaylord. Dee's family has many great memories of her at her home and up north at their cottage. Her remains have been interred at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Birmingham MI along with Ted.