Arnold Olson
| Date of Interment or Death | 06/12/1970 |
|---|---|
| Location | Old Fairview |
| Section | B |
| Block-Lot-Grave | 10-8-10 |
Obituary
Arnold L. Olson Dies Monday; Funeral Services Held Saturday
Arnold L. Olson, 74, of Battle Lake, Minn., died Monday at his home on Ottertail Lake. Funeral services were held Saturday in the Breckenridge Gospel Tabernacle with the Rev. Harold Brynteson officiating. Interment was in Fairview Cemetery at Wahpeton. Joseph Vertin and Sons Funeral Home of Breckenridge was in charge of arrangements.
Mr. Olson, a former Wahpeton businessman, was born April 24, 1896, in Norway, the son of Lawrence and Amelia Olson. At the age of four, he came to the United States with his parents and the family homesteaded south of Lidgerwood. He attended school there and worked on his parents' farm until he was 15, at which time he went to Minneapolis to work as a mechanic and later as a machinist. He entered the Armed Forces in March 1918 and served in France. He was discharged in April 1919.
On June 19, 1919, he was united in marriage to Frieda Christopherson of Vining, Minn., who had also come to the United States from Norway as a child. After their marriage, the couple lived at Wahpeton for forty years where Mr. Olson operated bearing sales firms and manufacturing plants in Wahpeton and Fargo. He also operated the Hudson Auto Agency and was in partnership with his son, Harry, in the Chrysler Agency in Wahpeton.
Mr. Olson served four years as treasurer of the Wahpeton City Council. He was also an instructor in welding classes at the North Dakota State School of Science. In 1933, he went to the Chicago World's Fair with the first rear-engine bus, which he and his students had built. Mr. Olson held international patents on a rotary grass mower and built a planting machine that was popular in the United States and also abroad. He produced up to 500 trailers per year in the 1940s before selling that business.
When Mr. Olson retired in 1962, he and his wife established residence at their Ottertail Lake home. they lived there during the summers and spend the winters traveling and visiting their children. At his Ottertail Lake home, Mr. Olson maintained various mechanically related ornamental ironwork, manufacturing boat lifts, the rotary lawn mower development and car restoration. The Olsons continued to be active in their church, the Breckenridge Gospel Tabernacle, after moving to Minnesota.
In June 1969, Mr. and Mrs. Olson celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. A highlight of the day was a drive through Wahpeton and Breckenridge in Mr. Olson's restored 1926 Model T Ford.
He is survived by his wife; four daughters and five sons, Mrs. Dewey (Norman) Halvorson of Bothell, Wash., Mrs. Thomas (Delores) Regpola of Stockton, Calif., Mrs. Travis (Mardell) Hall and Fay Cottage, both of Phoenix, Ariz., Arnold Jr. of Rock Ford, Colo., Harry H. of Minot, Robert of Breckenridge, Donald, who is serving in the United States Air Force in Madrid, Spain, and Phillip of Battle Lake; Four sisters and four brothers, Mrs. Walt (Ebba) Schmidt, Mrs. Roy (Nora) Cuff, Mrs. Sorem (Tinks) Malling and Ben Olson, all of Wahpeton, Mrs. Ralph (Alice) Christopherson of Park Rapids, Minn., Perry and Arthur Olson, both of Spokane, Wash., and Andrew Olson of Milwaukee, Wis.; 24 grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by one son, Howard.
Headstone photograph(s)
Location
Old Fairview is located on the southern half of the cemetery grounds.