Audrey J. Olson

A memorial service for Audrey J. Olson, 95, a resident of Moscow, will be Tuesday, Dec. 4, at 2 p.m. in the main lounge at Good Samaritan Village in Moscow. Pastor Debbie Sperry of the First United Methodist Church will officiate. A reception will follow in the community room after the service.

Mrs. Olson died Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2018, at the Good Samaritan Society Moscow Village where she has been a resident since May of 1988.

Born June 11, 1923, at Spokane, to Ira and Frances Taggart Long, her paternal family homesteaded on the Palouse but moved a lot due to the Great Depression. They followed the work until granddad Long returned to farming. She attended schools all up and down the west coast, primarily in Washington and California, where she graduated from Corona Senior High School in 1941.

She married Robert Olson May 18, 1945, at Palouse. They moved to Seattle, where he enrolled in the University of Washington. After he graduated, the couple made their home at Walla Walla, and later moved to Richland, then Kennewick, where Mr. Olson worked as a metallurgist at the Hanford nuclear site. The family moved to Maryland in the summer of 1966. From there, the family moved to Monroeville, Pa., in 1967. Mr. Olson died in 1991.

Audrey was a homemaker most of her life. Her love of sewing led her to sewing for one of the Pittsburgh area's larger department stores, Horne's. She sewed for Horne's using Vogue designer patterns for their fashion shows. She was an accomplished seamstress and sewed Bob's suits, men's and women's outer wear and all kinds of everyday and evening clothes. She learned to do bead work, make hats and sewed daughter Virginia's wedding dress. She worked for JC Penney's teaching sewing classes, including one titled 'Pants that Fit.'

In the summer of 1986 Audrey and her sister, Velma Henry, went to Washington State University to see what courses she needed to complete her college degree. She received a list of classes that she could complete at the local community college in Monroeville and then transfer to WSU. In the fall of 1987 she enrolled at WSU and over the next several years completed her degree work at the University of Idaho and WSU to graduate in 1992 and walked with her class in May, 1993. She was the Featured Graduate at that commencement.

She moved to Moscow in May of 1988 and moved into the duplex at Good Sam in July of that year. She was involved with the duplex residents group for many years.

Audrey was an active member of P.E.O. She was initiated into Chapter ED, Kennewick, Wash. She transferred her membership to chapters in Pittsburgh, and later to Moscow. She served as a delegate to Supreme (now International) Chapter in 1977.

She was a member of Monroeville United Methodist Church and served on many committees. She went on a mission trip with the church to Haiti. Her job during the mission was to teach the women there how to sew clothes to earn a living. She transferred her membership to First United Methodist Church in Moscow and was a member of the endowment committee.

Survivors include, two sons, James Olson (Marsha,) Chattanooga, Tenn; Thomas Olson (Sharon,) Beavercreek, Ohio, and a daughter, Virginia Bailey (Edward,) Santa Clara, Calif .; seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Memorials may be given to the Employee's Healthcare Endowment fund at Good Samaritan Society Moscow Village, 640 N. Eisenhower, Moscow, ID. 83843

Kramer Funeral Home, Palouse, is caring for the family. You are invited to leave online condolences and order flowers for the family at http://www.kramercares.com.