Howard Dean Olson was born in 1921 to Glen and Florence (née Lewis) Olson.  He was their third child and first son. He was predeceased by sisters Geraldine (1918) and Eleanora (1940) and brother Glenn (2009). When Howard was two years old his parents purchased 100 acres in the Swedish community of Lake City, Pennsylvania, which they developed into a dairy farm.

Primary school was eight years in a one-room schoolhouse. Attending his first three years of high school in a country setting, each day Howard walked two miles and hopped on the “Hootle Bug” railroad car. To complete his fourth year of high school, Howard drove his dad’s 1933 Chevy to town, earning his diploma in 1940 in Ridgway, Pennsylvania.

Howard and Doris met on August 2, 1946 at a church social. He had just returned from WWII Army service at the Panama Canal. They built their own brick home in Lake City, where Howard cut lumber and transported it to the sawmill for material.  Continuing to farm, Howard was employed at the Elliott Company, a manufacturer of large electrical equipment. A truly gifted “fixer,” Howard always enjoyed figuring out how to repair or reconstruct machinery.

In 1962 Howard relocated to Shoreham, New York to work at the Brookhaven National Laboratory as a mechanical technician. Retiring after 22 years of service in 1984, he filled his busy days enjoying time both here on Long Island and on his beloved Lake City farm. Howard and Doris are charter members of the North Shore United Methodist Church, founded in Wading River in 1970.

As a married couple of more than 68 years, Howard and Doris shared the births of four children: Eleanor (Clark Rechkemmer), Gordon (Dixie Sundstrom), Bruce and Joan (Nicholas Arata); six grandchildren: Rob (Carolyn Georgiade), Anne (Patrick Chatfield), Suzanne (Nate Nelson), Celeste (Kyle Horazdovsky), Alexa and Nicholas Dean; and four great-grandsons: James, Will, Tommy, and John Howard.

Join us for for a memorial celebrating Howard’s life on Saturday, July 2 at 4 pm in the church sanctuary.