Shelley's Obituary
Our amazing mother, Shelley M. Olson, of Great Falls passed away peacefully on November 30, 2022, at Peace Hospice surrounded by her loving family. While we believed cancer would take her from us, she fell and passed due to complications from that fall.
Shelley was born on October 5, 1950, in Tacoma, WA to Mason and Helen Burke. The third of four girls, Shelley was raised in Conrad and Great Falls. She graduated from CMR in 1969.
She had an amazing gift of overcoming the obstacles thrown at her all her life. She was born paralyzed and was told she would never walk. Not only did she walk, but she also thrived. She accomplished nearly everything she set her mind to. She overcame every obstacle, and her desires were accomplished with flair. She disliked being told “no” or “you can’t.” This only motivated her to prove them wrong.
While a barmaid at the J-Bar-T, she met and fell in love with James Olson in 1974. They had two beautiful daughters, Sabrina Joy and Jo Lynn Jean. Shelley and Jim made their life with the military. She was a proud Air Force wife. While they later divorced, they remained dear friends.
She worked as a civil servant for the Air Force most of her career. Her favorite position was being a personal secretary to the General at Kapaun Air Station in Germany. Shelley was extremely proud to get her degree in Psychology while living in Maine. Unfortunately, a major stroke in 1990 caused her to have to medically retire. She was unable to pursue the passion and career she worked so hard on.
Shelley had a gift of making friends and keeping those friends for life. She and her dearest best friend, Katie McDaniel, knew each other for 36 years and loved each other like family. Susie Maki, Linda Eggars, June Henderson, and her oldest friend, Shirley Smith, had a special place in her heart. She was always sad when she thought of Shirley, June, and Linda passing away so soon in life.
She loved to look beautiful. She was stunning and worked hard to show her beauty through her love of makeup and jewelry. Shelley could tell you the name of every gem there is. She had expensive taste, and we would always watch the jewelry channels with her and dream of the things we could buy if we could only win the lottery.
Shelley adored her family and was fiercely loyal to them. Her bond with her sisters, Peggy, Jeanette, and Debi was unbreakable. They spoke almost daily, sometimes for hours at a time. Mom was extremely close to her cousin, Dona, her very first best friend, her ride-or-die partner as a teenager, and her confidant throughout her life.
Her greatest love in life was her girls and her grandkids. She loved them with all her heart, and she ALWAYS made sure they knew that. She was an amazing mom and grandma. She was so proud of Sabrina and Jo Lynn and loved Aston and James fiercely. She endlessly bragged about all their accomplishments and worried when she didn't agree with our choices. Above all, she loved them all to pieces. Each of them will always remember that no matter how upset with us she was, she always said "OK, bye, love you!" in a special way with a higher pitched lilt in her voice.
Shelley was a wonderful giver. She was endlessly helping and caring for others. She had a hard time saying no to anyone in need and instilled this in all of her kids and grandkids. She was the neighborhood mom. Most of the kids’ friends did not even know her first name, everyone just called her Mom or Mom Olson. Over the years she "adopted" two of those special kids as her bonus girls, Tani Hall and Kenda Eggars. Tani and Kenda were very special to her, and she was as proud of them as she was of her own daughters.
Shelley was preceded in death by both parents; grandparents on both sides; many aunts and uncles; her brothers, Lonnie, Larry, and Leonard; and many close friends.
Shelley is survived by her daughters, Sabrina (Eric Holland) and Jo Lynn; granddaughter, Ashton Olson; grandson, James Holland; bonus daughters, Tani (Chris) Hall and Kenda (Rick) Eggars; sisters, Peggy Morehouse, Jeanette (Ivan) Wollersheim, and Debi (Steve) Oney; as well as many nieces, nephews, and cousins, numerous friends, bonus kids and grandkids.
A celebration of life is planned for Saturday, May 6, 2023, from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Great Falls Eagles Manor (1501 9th St South - rear entrance). Shelley hated winter and would comment on how ugly things were during this time. We decided to celebrate her in the Spring when the blooms are in abundance. A private family burial will follow in Conrad.
Sabrina and Jo Lynn hope to see Shelley’s family and friends and wish to make this a happy time of remembering her and telling great stories. We would love for you to wear your favorite piece of jewelry and tell us the story around it.
