Jane Olson, dedicated volunteer for worthy causes
JANE OLSON was a quiet woman not inclined to raise her voice or get into a fight, but if she had a just cause to pursue, look out.
Such a cause was the lack of a school bus route serving her neighborhood in Warminster, Bucks County, which made it difficult for her children to get to school.
This soft-spoken woman joined other neighbors to appear before the local school board to present their case.
"People were yelling on both sides," said her son, the Rev. James Olson. "It was out of character for her, but she did it."
Jane didn't need to yell, and it was her quiet force that was instrumental in winning bus service for her neighborhood.
Jane Olson, a volunteer for numerous church and community programs, the "quarterback" who organized and ran family get-togethers, and a voracious reader who never stopped educating herself, died Monday of complications of Lewy body dementia. She was 81 and lived in Warminster.
Her son said her favorite job was candy lady for Archbishop Wood High School, in which she sold candy to students Tuesdays and Thursdays. She thought the kids were funny, and they knew they had a good audience in Jane.
She took the job after her husband, Frank Olson, retired as a building supervisor for Peco, where he had worked for 42 years.
Jane was particularly active with her church, St. Joseph's, in Warrington. She volunteered for just about every church activity. She was a longtime member of the choir and served as a lunch mother and on the women's club. She also worked in the rectory helping to raise funds and coordinate picnics, Christmas bazaars and other events.
She was born in Philadelphia, the oldest girl of the eight children of Thomas O'Neill and the former Margaret Hayes. She attended John W. Hallahan Catholic High School before the family moved to Camden, where she graduated from Camden Catholic High School.
She worked for Philadelphia Electric Co., forerunner of Peco, a company that promised a job to employees who were returning from drafted military service during the Korean War.
One returning soldier was Frank Olson, and on his first day, he met Jane, the secretary for his new boss. They fell in love and were married on Sept. 8, 1956.
Her son James, now president of Monsignor Bonner-Archbishop Prendergast High School in Drexel Hill, was an assistant at St. Cecilia's Church in Fox Chase, where Eddie Polec was beaten to death on the church steps by seven teenage boys from Abington on Nov. 11, 1994. They were avenging a rape that never happened.
The 16-year-old Eddie was an altar boy at the church, and Father Olson counseled the Polec family, presided at his funeral and accompanied the parents to the trials of the seven attackers, all of whom were convicted and sentenced to prison.
Because of his emotional involvement with the Polecs, Father Olson resisted reading a 1997 book about the case, In Eddie's Name: One Family's Triumph Over Tragedy, by former TV anchor Bryn Freedman and her husband, writer Bill Knoedelseder.
Olson decided to ask his mother, who had joined her son in supporting the Polecs at the trials, to read the book and tell him about it. She read it in one sitting, taking notes. She found the story as upsetting as her son would have.
"She felt helpless," he said. "She wished she could have done something to take away the suffering. She was frustrated that there was nothing she could do. That's the kind of person she was."
"She was the most beautiful person you would ever want to meet," said her husband, Frank Olson. "She was so capable and smart, but also so kind and gentle that she became a magnet for people. She was a great listener and brought out the best in others.
"She had a great wit and a great sense of humor. She found something to laugh about every day - especially me."
Besides her husband and son, she is survived by another son, Eric Olson, vice president of finance for Drexel University; a daughter, Nancy Olson, a teacher at Council Rock North High School; a brother, Vincent O'Neill; two sisters, Isabelle Lisa and Rita Russell, and four grandchildren.
Services: Funeral Mass 11 a.m. Friday at St. Joseph's Church, Easton and County Line roads. Friends may call at 7 p.m. Thursday and 9:30 a.m. Friday at the church. Burial will be in St. John Neumann Cemetery, Chalfont.
