Patty M. Olson passed away peacefully on December 22, 2022, surrounded by her loving family.
Patty was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Clara Meland and Edward Knutson. Her parents divorced when she was seven years old. Her father remarried, and the family moved to the Garden Farms area, south of Atascadero, where they purchased a chicken ranch around 1938. Patty was responsible for polishing and sorting the eggs with sandpaper, shoveling manure, and helping with the other animals. This was during the Depression, and she said they always had enough to eat but nothing extra.
She attended Atascadero High School, graduating in the Class of 1942. While in high school, she actively participated in various activities and was one of three cheerleaders. In her senior year, she was elected as president of the Girls League. She worked at the local drug store as a “soda jerk” after school and on weekends. After her shift, she caught the Greyhound bus for the 8-mile ride home. She missed the bus twice and had an 8-mile walk home to Garden Farms!
She married Harvie Olson in Oakland in November of 1942, and they moved back to Atascadero. Patty and Harvie raised two boys, Jerry and Jon. They also had a daughter, Ruth Anne, who was killed in a car accident when she was three years old.
Patty served as a volunteer worker on the County Election Board every election year. She voted in every election, including the last one in November 2022.
She was an excellent cook, even though she didn’t know how to boil water when she got married. She was also a great seamstress and made the boy’s clothes when they were younger. She knitted, crocheted, and made quilts, too.
In her later years, she took up golf with her girlfriends. They played at Chalk Mountain in Atascadero and San Luis Bay in Avila Beach, where Jon worked. None of them were very good, but they had the best time laughing (and maybe swearing a little) together.
She and Harvie enjoyed traveling on gambling trips to Reno and Tahoe. They also went to the World’s Fair in British Columbia in 1986.
Patty was preceded in death by her parents, Edward Knutson and Clara Meland; her stepmother, Ada Knutson; brother, Donald Knutson; sister, Dorothy Boriack; husband, Harvie; daughter, Ruth Anne; son, Jerry; daughter-in-law, Judy; and grandson, Terrence Cash. She is survived by her son Jon (Anne) of King City, and her daughter-in-law, Carol of Prescott, Arizona. She is also survived by six grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, three great-great-grandchildren, one niece, Dayle Willis, and one nephew, Bill Boriack.
She will be dearly missed by all who knew her. There will be no services at her request.
Arrangements were entrusted to Eddington Funeral Services, 429 Bassett St., King City, (831) 385-5400, www.EFS-Cares.com .
