Irene Olsen

Irene Marie Harding Olsen, 82, passed away peacefully on Saturday, December 31, 2016, at Mountain Ridge Assisted Living Center in South Ogden, with family members by her side.

Born on November 3, 1934, in Jerome, Idaho, to Esther and Dave Harding, Irene was a farm girl with a tender heart, who loved animals and couldn't bear to kill the chickens. Though she preferred to be outside with the animals, she learned to cook from her mother and inherited her remarkable cooking ability.  Irene’s parents were from large German families who emigrated from Russia to the United States.  She remembered her parents speaking German when they didn’t want her and her brother Sonny to know what they were talking about.  She loved playing with the many barn cats that ran through her parent’s property, and her father said it took the milk from one cow to feed them all.  She had a favorite farm dog, as well.

Irene attended Jerome High School and Pocatello College after her high school graduation.

She met Norman Olsen while he was working at the Parisian laundry.  He came to her apartment to deliver the laundry and she was cooking hamburgers. He asked if he could have one, and she gladly made one for him.  The two hit it off and fell in love.  They married on January 16, 1954, at the Calvary Episcopal Church in Jerome, Idaho, and they honeymooned at Death Valley, for some reason unknown to anyone.  There is a photograph that exists from that trip of Irene standing on a diving board over an empty pool in what appears to be a deserted resort, a fun memento from the trip of a lifetime.  Good times.  Irene said they began their marriage at the lowest point in North America and could only go up from there.

After Norm and Irene married, a friend drove Irene to Florida to meet Norm there as he finished his Air Force Reserve training, and they lived there for a short time.

Irene was taught by Norm and the missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and was baptized on May 31, 1957.  Norm and Irene’s marriage was later solemnized in the Salt Lake Temple on April 10, 1959.

The young family moved to Twin Falls, Idaho and then Bountiful, Utah, finally settling in Kaysville, Utah where they raised their five children:  Kim, David, Curtis, Scott and Drew.  When the kids were young, it was hard work to keep up with their appetites.  They had taco nights, and each child could eat at least 10, so Irene was kept busy cranking out the tacos, which she cheerfully did.  Though she wasn’t especially squeamish, the kids made a game of trying to gross her out while they were eating, and usually succeeded.

The Olsen kids were regulars at the doctor’s office, with a steady stream of broken bones and other injuries.  Irene wasn’t one to freak out, but matter-of-factly, as per the usual routine, loaded up the injured kid and made the drive to the family physician on auto-pilot.

Irene was lively and animated and participated in plays and roadshows.  She played the damsel in distress in a melodrama, and she loved musicals:  The Sound of Music, Oklahoma, My Fair Lady, the Unsinkable Molly Brown, Les Miserables, and many others.  She sang and danced along with recordings from those musicals. If Kim started singing a show tune in the car, Irene jumped in and joined her.  Irene and Norm liked to sing “Danny Boy,” together at the piano.

She was creative and intuitive when it came to decorating her home.  She had an eclectic style and an eye for placing a collection of unusual objects in artistic ways that looked magazine-perfect.

She had pet cats; often Siamese, but her last two cats were long-haired orange-striped cats named Pete and Repete.  She loved her horses, including a favorite white Arabian named Crescendo.  While watching Westerns, when the arrows and bullets started flying, she couldn't stand all the killing--but it wasn't the people she was worried about.  She didn’t care if the people were screaming and dying, but if a horse went down, she'd cry out, "The poor horse!" And then she'd have to turn the movie off or leave the room.  She loved the smell of leather horse saddles and alfalfa.

Irene was fun and funny, and laughed easily.  She enjoyed other people’s jokes and laughed the hardest at the things Norm said and did.  She loved the Carol Burnett Show and laughed loudly when she watched it—the kids could hear her from the other rooms and come running to see what was so funny, and then joined her on the couch to watch.  One of her favorite sketches was the “Went with the Wind” sketch, a parody of “Gone with the Wind,” where Carol descends the long staircase at the war-blasted Tara mansion, wearing a curtain rod of thick green velvet curtains across her shoulders.

She loved to decorate for the holidays and every room had something festive in it, down to the towels and soap and lotions in the bathrooms.  In her last home, she had one room completely devoted to Christmas decorations; a multitude of Santas, wreaths, nativities and ornaments.  Many of her decorations, like her Santas and Christmas village pieces, were hand-painted by her and Norm.  Her holiday meals were legendary, with the tables set elegantly with goblets, fancy silverware, and colorful serving dishes shaped like pheasants or pumpkins or holly leaves.  When she finally sat down to join the family for the meal, her eyes were scanning everyone; if you hesitated in the slightest, she’d be on her feet, asking, “What do you need?” ready to rush the potatoes or turkey or roundies over and serve them up.  On Halloween, when the grandkids were brought over to show off their costumes, she’d have chili, apples and donuts on a stick ready for everyone.

She was a thoughtful gift-giver, and her gift packages were part of the gift; she took great care with the way she wrapped and ribboned them, making them as beautiful as she could.  She pampered the women in the family with gifts of makeup cases and perfumes and always put a lot of thought into whatever she gave.

She loved people and was in her element when she was out shopping, mingling with people and interacting with babies and toddlers.  She welcomed new friends brought to her house by the grandkids as her own right away, and it would not be unusual to find their birthdays written on her calendar in her crisp handwriting.  She loved her grandchildren and sang along with them or played card games or put puzzles together with them.

Irene was always up for an adventure, ready to come along anywhere, anytime, regardless of the destination.  She went on numerous hikes in Moab with Dave and his family, and often camped with Kim and her family, and she visited Drew and Summer and his family as often as she could and attended sports competitions with them.

She was an active woman who loved boating with Norm and the family at Flaming Gorge and Lake Powell, camping out at Sandy Bottom Beach, and enjoying fire dancing at night.   She wasn’t crazy about water sports and swimming, but she loved being there with the family.

She was a strong, feisty lady whose youthful photographs resemble Audrey Hepburn. She was always in motion, always looking for what she could do, and who she could do for.  She home-canned, tied quilts, and knitted hot pads.  Whenever someone asked her for a favor, a common response was an emphatic, “Heavens, yes!”  She served tirelessly in her church callings and helped family members over and over and over again with house and yard projects.  She and Norm spent a very long day painting the walls of Dave’s new home with sprayers, and when Dave and Gayle saw them afterwards, they looked like ghosts.  They were wearing their white paint coveralls and were covered with white paint everywhere but where their goggles covered their eyes.  She helped Kim wallpaper her home and often showed up with things like a bedspread or shower curtain to make things homier for Kim and her family.  She noticed things that might be needed and bought them for her family.  She often said she was more of a Martha than a Mary, preferring to do the hard work in the background, without any special notice made.

Irene never thought of herself as anyone special, but she faced some excruciatingly difficult challenges in her life, which included burying two sons.  Her experiences might have made another person bitter and angry, but though she was a realist, she kept her radiant smile and her kindness intact.

We hope she is discovering the extent of her impact on people, and how deeply she is loved, by so many.

Irene was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Norm Olsen, and two sons:  Scott and Curtis Olsen.  Survived by daughter Kim Olsen Macfarlane and her partner Kalene, and sons Dave (Gayle) Olsen and Drew Olsen, and brother Sonny (LaNona) Harding, and grandchildren Chris (Michelle) Macfarlane, Sean Macfarlane, K.C. Mikesell, Jordan Mikesell; Jeffrey (Lacey) Olsen; Bryce, Hayden, Maclain, Jackson and Jerica Olsen; Summer Olsen and Danny and Michael Bradley.  Irene has three great-grandchildren, and two more on the way.

Irene’s funeral will be held Wednesday, January 4, 2017, at 11:00 a.m., with a viewing at 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. prior to the funeral, at the Layton University Park Ward, 2400 N University Park Boulevard, Layton, Utah, the ward she attended while she lived in Layton.

Goodbye for now, sweet lady. Without a doubt, you are hearing the words, "Well done," and wrapped in your Father's arms.

We love you always!

Services entrusted to Lindquist's Layton Mortuary, 1867 No. Fairfield Road.