Although he is not up for visitors yet, if you are wanting to know a good time to visit please call or text one of the family.
We would be happy to read Dad & Mom the messages, thoughts, memories & comments shared by those who love them. Feel free to post. Thank you!
Although I don't know you. I do know your son, Zach and his wife Rachael. They are pretty amazing people and I'm sure you have something to do with that. We will keep you and your family in our thoughts and prayers. God Bless!
ReplyDeleteCraig,
ReplyDeleteMy family and I have always looked up to you as model parents and friends. Ever since I was a young boy being taught by you in church, I knew that you were a very special person and I couldn't help but gravitate your way and observe you more closely than others. Your kids were the best examples for me growing up and my mom always encouraged me to be like Zach Olson. I am glad that your legacy continues on through them, because they will always honor your name.
You are a man of the earth and I still have fond memories of working alongside you and getting dirty in your backyard. You gave me great opportunities to work hard.
I was blessed to have been able to work with Judy. What a delight she is and will always be. I had great experiences with her and I'm glad to have gained a friendship with her as an adult.
Thank you for being who you are. Regardless of the immediate future, we will all rejoice together again.
Pierce Lambson
Dear my parents, Elder and Sister Olson
ReplyDeleteMy family is very blessed to met and spent a lot of wonderful time with you guys. I always feel like you are my real parents. Thank you for being great people for us and support and help us all the time. I love you guys to the moon and back!
I still remember the very first time I met with you guys in the Ambassador restaurant and Elder Olson love taro pink bread like me. It has been the most rewarding years to spending time and feel the special love from you guys for me and my family. We will love you forever and ever.
Oyuna & Baatraa
I love you Brother Olson and am so grateful for your important influence in my life. Every day I wake up excited to be in the classroom... and think of YOU. You and Judy are faithfully in my prayers. Praying for peace and joy in THE Plan. Jennifer Brinkerhoff (Platt)
ReplyDeleteBrother Olson,
ReplyDeleteOur family is so grateful that our oldest young men have known you. They loved you as their religion teacher at BYU Hawaii! Rian still mentions how your name and sister Olson's name comes up in conversations with other students. You loved those students and they love you!!! You where their FAVORITE religion teacher. Rian has mentioned "if only Brother Olson was still here teaching"......he loved your class.
I know you know how grateful Brock and I are for you and you wrapping your arms around our son and guiding and loving him. Thank you again, and again and again.
You have have been a man of God and you and sister Olson have been such an example of a Christlike love to others.
You are a good man and your wife is an amazing woman.
Just to let you know Cody gets home from his mission tomorrow morning........You and Zach where so instrumental in teaching him the gospel before he left. I know he has such a fondness for you both.
Love and Aloha, Brock and Britt Booher
You two have always been such an inspiration! You are an example of genuine kindness, love and of living a true Christ-like life. thank you for the wonderful example you have set for me and my family. we love you and our thoughts and prayers are with you.
ReplyDeletelove,
Erik & Stacey Hemeyer
Dear Craig and Judy,
ReplyDeleteour prayers and thoughts are with all of you. We have many, many good memories of when you lived in the Tooele 14th Ward. Yesterday in Sacrament Meeting, I thought of you as a family who is moving from our ward spoke. It made me think of how when you were leaving our ward and you all stood in front as the congragation sang, "God be with you 'til we meet again". In the history of our ward that has only happened once, and that was for you. Love and miss you!
Love, Ted and Wanda York
Dear sweet Brother/President Olson (and family),
ReplyDeleteI still remember first meeting you as you came to visit my family when I first joined the church. What a wonderfully touching spirit you have, I knew that day you were a very special man of God. A sacred and prized child of our Heavenly Father.
Life is so much easier with an eternal perspective. I lost my dad 3.5 years ago to this awful thing called cancer. Being the only member in my family, I must say that I'm so grateful to have an eternal perspective and to know, no matter how hopeless and how grief stricken we may be -- there is peace and comfort in knowing HE really does know what is best for us (even when it sucks!!) It's so sad to see our loved ones suffer, and heartwrenching to live through. But the blessings surrounding death, and the thinness of the veil is astounding and tangible. We know so little, yet our souls know so much.
Brother Olson, thank you for gentle kindness. Thank you for your example and service. I know Heavenly Father has great things planned for you, and if it's missionary work, I've got quite a list of people who need to be contacted! *wink*
To your family... big hugs and remember to pay attention to the blessings. They are abundant and real, and you're all surrounded by those who love you, both temporally and spiritually. My prayers are with you all. ~~ Krista Darrach (The Darrach Family)
Dear Craig and Judy.....we will always remember your kindness and friendliness extended to us during our few years in the Thayer Park ward. You are a true man of The Lord, Craig, and your service has meant a great deal. I'd love to see you again sometime, Judy....please know that we are thinking of, and praying for you. Much good lies ahead for you both.....love, Maggie & Bill Wright
ReplyDeleteTo our dear friend Craig Olson, I shared these sentiments with you in person a month or so ago in a private visit to your home and you blushed at my sharing it with you. It is true and I share it again in written form for the benefit and blessing of your posterity and for the many others who know and love you and echo these same sentiments. You have blessed so many through your gentle righteous life and your goodness has caused us to feel closer to God by knowing you. Indeed as C.S. Lewis wrote:
ReplyDelete“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which,if you say it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - These are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
You are no ordinary man and your "weight of glory" has often caused us as friends, members of your Ward or Stake or Seminary or Institute classes to feel to "bow down and worship" as C.S. Lewis put it, the magnificence of an immortal soul. We cannot see the measure and value of each others immortal souls but sometimes we can see glimpses and YOU helped us feel this way. As a Godlike immortal soul, you emulated and His image...a man of God in whose presence true feelings of friendship, reverence, respect and even awe at times are elicited. Thank you for your "hold tight knuckle white" example Craig. For teaching our children and mentoring us along our way. As the lyrics aptly state in the Musical 'Wicked', "because we knew you, we have been changed for the better". Thank you, we love you and feel blessed to have shared some of the same road together with you on our way back to our Heavenly Father. We look forward to that time when we will share a loving embrace with Him and you, when we shall meet again beyond this veil of tears, pain and sorrow. We rejoice in this vision of Glory, of hope and eternal happiness with friends and families.
With much love, Sterling & Michele Baer, Angela Owen, Brian, Tyler, Devin, Corey and Marisa
I have many fond memories when I think of Craig Olson.
ReplyDeleteSome of those come from our Stake Girl’s Camps:
• I remember watching you with a table full of young women playing one game after another into the wee hours of the morning. It was fun to see the delight on the faces of those girls as they enjoyed the time you spent with them.
• The next morning I smiled again as you were embarrassed and apologized to every adult staying in the lodge for the noise and late hour of the games.
• We all loved watching you dance the Maori Haka war dance with the entertainers on stage.
• You were always emptying trashcans and helping complete any needed chore.
Some of my memories are from observing you in action in various other encounters:
• I learned so much from your leadership during Stake Council meetings where your love, wisdom and testimony were shared by perfect example.
• During a pioneer trek, when you served as Bishop of your ward, I watched how much the youth connected with you and your love for them was evident.
• Even when there were challenges with the trek you shared your support, help and appreciation.
• A few years ago you came to me and said you had heard I was a good teacher. I was struggling with my confidence in my calling as gospel doctrine teacher and this was a timely, tender blessing for me.
• You always notice the individual and shower each with love and tender care. You have done that for all around you and I have been blessed to feel of your special gift of care. You made everyone feel special!
• I have grown and been blessed to learn at your feet in many different settings. Whether at a Stake Conference, R.S. class on scripture study, girl’s camp, or in council meetings your wisdom, testimony and words taught me wonderful lessons. In fact, you are one of a handful of people whose teaching reached most deeply in my heart and prompted me to make changes in my life. I put you on the same level as S. Michael Wilcox, who I love to listen to. I know I am not alone in that feeling.
I will always cherish my memories and have made changes for the better because of your example and teachings.
I send my love to you and your sweet wife, Judy, and to all your family. You are all in my prayers.
~ Shelly Monsen
Craig Olson was always the equivalent of Jeffrey Holland in the Mountain View Stake... the one speaker in Stake Conference that you always looked forward to listening to and learning from. I admire your gospel knowledge and ability to teach it in ways that relate to life experiences.
ReplyDeleteAs my Priesthood leader... you gave me confidence because there was never a doubt in my mind regarding your personal testimony of our Savior and His restored gospel. My life and my testimony have benefited from my association with you. Kim and I love you and respect you and Judy and your wonderful family.
Jeff Rogers
Bishop Olson--you hold a treasured place in my heart. As my Bishop during my teen years, you shaped my testimony and my understanding of the gospel. As the father of my friends, I found acceptance and encouragement.
ReplyDeleteI remember vividly a mutual activity where you had us hold onto a door knob representing the iron rod, and then had all sorts of "temptations" for us to let go, even to come and "save" you and bring you back to the iron rod. You said "Hold tight Knuckle white." That phrase has come to me time and time again for 25 years as I have been tested and made decisions. Just last month I used that story in my Laurel class and told them to "Hold tight, Knuckle white."
I'm heartbroken as I read of your illness, but so strengthened to read about how you are still holding tight, knuckle white. I have always loved and admired you and your family, and continue to do so. You are all in my prayers.
Marilee Herman (Ivie)
Dear Craig & Judy--My love for your family started way back in the 60's when your Uncle Ferron & Aunt Donna moved in down the street from my family. I'm thinking I was about 10 or 11. I loved going to their home & "playing." Rick(y) was one of my best friends. One thing I remember about the Olson home...it was always packed with boys! Not just Rick & his brothers, but Rick & his cousins! I think probably one of the reasons I loved it so much was because of all the cute boys. But more so they were always so kind to me even tho' I was younger. I'm most certain you were one of those cousins that treated me with kindness. Your uncle was my favorite Bishop as I was growing up, as you, President Olson, have been one of my favorite leaders. I remember when you were first put in the Stake Presidency & I had a Temple recommend interview with you. My first thought was to ask you if you were related to Ferron Olson but then thought...how many Olson's there were in this world & there was no way. But I still felt that I should ask you. When you told me he was your uncle, I immediately felt a connection with you that took me way back to my childhood. You have such a loving kind spirit & that wonderful "Olson smile" ... so much like my Bishop Ferron Olson. You will always have a special place in my heart & I'm so very grateful to have the privilege to know you & your family. You are all such great examples to me. Thank you for that. Know that you & your family are in our prayers & that the Elggren family loves you. ~Cheryl~
ReplyDeleteWe send you our love and prayers. We keep you in our prayers and on the prayer roll. We are so thankful for your friendship and your example to all of us.it was a joy to serve with you in Hawaii and especially all you did to make our apartment special for us! We will always remember that.
ReplyDeleteWhat beautiful pictures the kids have put together on this blog! You truly are an eternal family. May the Lord be with you and bless you all. Arnie and Cherie Garr
Thank you for your beautiful testimony from days In the Tooele seminary!~wow that was quite some time ago! Your kind smile and fun laugh are still remembered!(that was in the seventy's) so that tells you and your family how special you made us feel in seminary! we are so thankful family's are forever! you are in our thoughts and prayers! love Ed and Barb Hansen
ReplyDeleteDear Craig and Judy,
ReplyDeleteHawaii was a godsend in our lives. Yes, the land was beautiful. But, the beauty of those students from all of those cultures was the rarest of treats. To be a Church Educator in that environment, as senior missionaries whose lives had already been devoted to teaching, was a profound topping on careers of teaching joy. All of us were grateful to have shared that experience with you, Craig, spending two remarkable years preparing, sharing gospel insights, serving long hours, and loving the moment we had been given.
You were a preferred teacher. The students loved your classes--they knew you were always prepared, that you loved them and were always there for them. They spoke of their genuine appreciation for your sacrifice to be on a mission caring about them. Your wandering through your classes before they even began, shaking hands, calling them by name, endeared them to you. Your lingering afterwards, your openness to entertaining their questions and needs whether in the hallways, or in your office, or in your apartment---caused them to have an anchor in their lives pressed with challenges. You were their champion; a great, smiling, compassionate champion.
Your “home,” Craig and Judy, was always open to visitors, a warm and gracious environment where friendships could develop and be nurtured. You were the noblest of examples as senior missionaries, the finest of workers in the Church in Laie, and a most shining example of a loving marriage. We were also observers to a family well raised, to gorgeous children and grandchildren full of faith and caring. The seeds planted by you two have taken root and blossomed.
We love you. We have had you in our prayers for such a prolonged time, and the names of “Craig and Judy” are lovingly rehearsed before the Father of us all.
Thank heavens for the gospel plan, for eternal covenants, and for people who honor those covenants with faithful lives. It is an honor to call you friends. You have richly blessed our lives.
Jerry and Kathy Wilson