Rev. O. Rolf Olson, born Oscar Rolf Olson, age 95, of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, passed away on Monday, August 3, 2026, at St. Therese Assisted Living in Brooklyn Park.

A memorial service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 19, 2026, at Spring Prairie Lutheran Church, N509 Highway C, DeForest, Wisconsin. An interment service will be held at Lutheran Cemetery in Decorah, Iowa, at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 20, 2026.

Memorials in honor of O. Rolf Olson may be directed and payable to ELCA World Hunger, either online at https://tinyurl.com/4vm4kwr2 or by mail addressed to ELCA Gift Processing Center * PO Box 1809 * Merrifield, VA 22116-8009.

Rolf was born on September 29, 1930, in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, to Walter and Liv Olson.

He grew up in Ashby, Minnesota; Superior, Wisconsin; and Muskegon, Michigan. He graduated from Muskegon Senior High School in 1949. He continued his education at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, following the footsteps of both grandfathers (Oscar L. Olson, class of 1893; Kristen Kvamme, class of 1894) and his father (class of 1924). Rolf graduated from Luther in 1953 with a major in classical languages and minors in English and history. Rolf also competed on the Luther College Track and Field Team and briefly held the College record in the two-mile run.

While at Luther, Rolf discerned a call to the Lutheran ministry and, like his father and grandfather Kristen, entered Luther Theological Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where his great-uncle T. F. (“Todd”) Gullixson was president at the time. He served his seminary internship at the Milton-Osnabrock Lutheran Parish, Milton, North Dakota, a place he spoke of fondly all his life. He received his Master of Divinity from the seminary in 1957.

Rolf pursued graduate studies at the University of Chicago in the field of historical theology (church history) in 1957-58. He then spent a year as an instructor in the Department of Bible and Religious Education at Luther College.

On August 21, 1959, Rolf married Gertrude (Trudy) Kolstad of Lanesboro, Minnesota, a 1954 graduate of Luther College who was an instructor in the Luther College English Department. Rolf and Trudy then moved to Mindoro, Wisconsin, driving their 1939 Buick (a gift from Great-uncle Todd) to Rolf’s first pastoral call at the Mindoro-Lewis Valley Lutheran parish churches.

Rolf was ordained as a Lutheran minister on February 21, 1960, in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, in the church where his father served as pastor. Rolf’s and Trudy’s first two children, Ruth and Eric, were born during their years in Mindoro. Rolf then earned a Master of Theology in Church History from Luther Theological Seminary in 1966.

In 1967, the family moved into a rural parsonage near the crossroads hamlet of Keyeser, Wisconsin, where Rolf began serving as pastor of Spring Prairie Lutheran Church in Keyeser and Morrisonville Evangelical Lutheran Church in Morrisonville. The Morrisonville congregation later merged with another Lutheran congregation to form United In Christ Lutheran Church.

During their early years at the Spring Prairie parsonage, their family grew with the arrival of two more children, Esther and Peter. The family also welcomed a beloved dog, Snowball, who was very much part of the family. Summer vacations were usually spent at the family’s rustic one-room cabin with screened porch overlooking the “Preacher’s Point” area of Kabekona Lake in northern Minnesota. Rolf and Trudy built the cabin together in 1964 on a limited budget on a plot he received from his parents, who acquired it in the early 1930s with a group of seminary friends. It became a special place of lasting family memories.

Pastor Olson was deeply involved in all aspects of church life at Spring Prairie and United In Christ Lutheran parishes. He led worship, baptized and confirmed generations of infants and young people, and officiated countless weddings and funerals. He provided personal counseling to many and took an active part in parish meetings and events. He devoted extraordinary time and energy visiting parishioners in local hospitals and nursing homes, as well as those unable to leave home due to limited mobility.

He was committed to teaching confirmation classes and supporting the Luther League, including organizing and driving the Luther League’s annual Christmas caroling outing to homebound parishioners. He coordinated youth retreats held at Imago Dei Bible Camp, and led multiple lively rounds of the game “The Prince of Paris Lost His Hat.” He pitched and umpired many church and summer Vacation Bible School softball games and was always ready to make the short trip to Milwaukee with parish and family members to catch a Brewers game.

After 36 years serving Spring Prairie and United In Christ, Rolf and Trudy retired in 2003 and moved to Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, becoming members of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church. During retirement they enjoyed more time for reading, morning and afternoon tea, socializing with friends, walking at the East Towne Mall, spending time at the family cabin, attending Luther College events, and visiting their children in different parts of the country. Over these years, they took trips abroad to France, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. Rolf also wrote a book during retirement entitled The Norwegian Synod 1853-1917: A Short History of a Premier Predecessor Church Body, published in 2016 by Lutheran University Press.

In 2022, Rolf and Trudy moved to Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, to be closer to family.

Rolf was a devoted pastor, husband, father, and grandfather whose life was rooted in Lutheranism and the Christian faith. He dearly loved his wife, family, and friends, the Lutheran Church, church history, and Luther College. He thoroughly enjoyed biblical text study with fellow pastors, studying history, discussing politics with people of similar and differing perspectives, playing racquetball at the Madison YMCA, feeling the wind off the lake at the family cabin, and taking in a baseball game.

He will be remembered for his polite and gentlemanly manner, integrity, steadfastness, and devotion.

He is survived by his children Ruth of New York, New York; Eric (Virginie) and grandson Luc of New York, New York; Esther of New Brighton, Minnesota; and Peter (Anne) of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, Anne’s daughters Alysse (Gabe) of Lafayette, Colorado, and Beth (Ben) of Kalamazoo, Michigan; and several nieces and nephews and grandnieces and grandnephews.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Gertrude Muriel Olson, his parents, Walter Andrew Olson and Valborg Liv (Kvamme) Olson, his sister, Marie Elizabeth (Olson) Lee, and brother Paul John Olson.