Ansel Cecil Olson

ANSEL CECIL BLAINE OLSON  November 4, 1922 - September 11, 2019       Ansel Cecil Blaine Olson died at the Green Pine Acres Nursing Home in Menahga on September 11th, 2019, at the age of 96, after several months of declining health.       Ansel was born on November 4, 1922, in Lakefield, Minnesota to Sybil (Johnson) and Albin Olson.  In 1925, at the age of three (3), the Olson Family moved from Jackson County to Menahga.  Ansel attended Country School through the 8th Grade and after completing school, Ansel worked with threshing crews in North Dakota, built roads locally through the WPA program and thereafter, served in the U. S. Navy during World War II, from 1944 to 1946.  He was stationed in Bremerton, WA, working in the naval shipyards.        Upon returning home from the Navy, he married his sweetheart Ruth Aliina Liimatta on October 25, 1947.   Together, they had eight (8) children.  Ansel farmed on the family homestead until 1964, which at that time, the milk prices were low and hay was expensive.   Ansel sold the cows and started his logging business.  He owned and operated a sawmill on the edge of Menahga, as well as selling black dirt and putting in lawns in the area.        He had a great sense of humor and always had a joke or two to tell.  He will also be remembered for his sharp memory!  If anyone had a question about people's names and relatives from the past, Ansel knew the answer, to everyone's amazement.       Ansel will be sorely missed by his children, Ronald and Elizabeth (Carlson) Olson, Brenda and Glen Pederson, Leland Olson, Timothy and Donna (Sims) Olson, all of Menahga, Tamara and Lon Schaefer of LaMoure, ND and Rhonda Olson of Menahga.  He is also survived by two sisters, Ethel Benson and Oneita Quick of Menahga and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.       He was preceded in death by his parents, wife Ruth of 62 years, son Donald and daughter Carlotta, as well as his brothers, Dale and Johnny and sisters, Shirley, Arlene, and Cora.       Funeral services will be held at the Assembly of God Church, Menahga, on Wednesday, September 18th, 2019, with visitation beginning at 12 noon, and the service at 1:00 p.m.