Ernest W. Olsen

Ernest  W. “Ernie” Olsen after a short hospital stay went to meet his Lord and Savior Jesus on Thursday Jan. 5, 2017, just one month short of his 99th birthday.

He was born Feb. 5, 1918 to Carl Joseph and Ester Mae Olsen in Muskegon, Michigan. His mother passed away when he was only five years old, leaving his father with four children under the age of five.  His father placed the four children in the Muskegon Childrens Home. All four of the children stayed there for eight years until his father married Bernice Baer.  Ernie graduated from Muskegon High School in Feb. of 1937.

He worked for six months to save money to attend Indiana Tech. College studying Electrical Engineering. While working as an electrician’s apprentice on the first floor of a factory that made cranes, he met Roberta Moehlman who worked on the second floor of the factory assembling parts. When he left to go to college, he wrote Roberta to tell her what college was like. She immediately wrote him back and the letters began crossing in the mail. He returned to Muskegon in 1940. Upon stepping off the bus with only a suitcase in his hands, Roberta’s father happened to see him and asked where he was staying. Ernie did not have a place to live so his potential father-in-law said, “Well you might as well come home with me then.”

Ernie and Roberta were married on Oct. 12, 1940. To this union of almost 74 years before she passed away in Sept. of 2014, came two children, Patricia (Pat) Steiner (husband Rev. Russell Steiner) of Melba, Idaho and David Olsen (wife Lora  Wepprich) Olsen of Fairview,  Utah were brought into this world and cared for.  This resulted in four grandchildren; Pamela (Steiner) Davis and husband Wayne; Eric Steiner and his wife Jennifer (Lund) Steiner;  Kelly and Jennifer Olsen; and five great grandchildren.

During the war years Ernie was employed building gun mounts used by the US Navy and that was considered to be more important than being a buck private in the Army so he did not serve in the military. He spent his life as a tool and die maker and eventually as the Cost Estimator for Bertea Manufacturing in Southern California. That was a high pressure job, because if he did not get all the costs done right for all the machining etc. the company would lose money. Because of that pressure and spending hours driving back and forth of the LA freeway system Ernie retired early from working at the age of 62. Mom was not very happy about that as she did not see how he could support her in the life style she had become used to as a stay at home wife.  But thru a series of real estate purchases and sales, Ernie always had more than enough resources to take care of the two of them.

Ernie moved his family of four to Escondido, CA. in the summer of 1955. After stops in La Habra, CA. and then back to Escondido to help care for his elderly parents, he and Roberta  moved to Eugene, OR, and then to Nampa,  in 1999 where he has resided since.

In addition to those mentioned above he is survived by a half-sister Peg Hailey living in England and numerous nieces and nephews scattered across the United States.  He was preceded in death by his parents, and sisters Alice and Ruth, brother Bob and a half-brother  Robert Bruce Rydell.

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