Phyllis Olson

Phyllis Sarah Olson, at the age of 95, passed away peacefully on April 28th, 2023 with her daughter by her side.

Phyllis was born on the farm near Invermay, Saskatchewan August 7th, 1927 to parents Sarah and Alfred Cook. She was the youngest of four children and grew up on the farm a few miles northeast of Invermay.

Phyllis attended Mason School near Invermay and went on to train as a teacher at the Saskatoon Normal School. She then taught school at Twin Creek for a short time where she met Hugo Olson. They were married October 19th, 1950 and had three children.

Phyllis and Hugo farmed northeast of Quill Lake, in the Gardenia school district, for many years. They worked hard on the farm growing crops, raising livestock, milking cows, selling cream, planting and tending to a large garden, canning, cooking and the many other chores that kept the farm and the household going. They moved to Drobot Street in Quill Lake in their retirement years.

Phyllis had many talents including being an excellent cook, seamstress and could knit or crochet anything you could imagine. She particularly loved picking saskatoon berries. In her later years she enjoyed walking in the mornings, gardening, planting and looking after flowers and having coffee in the afternoon with her friends and neighbours, reading and listening to music once in awhile. She also loved family and getting together and cooking for the many holidays the extended family had a chance to enjoy.

In their retirement years Phyllis and Hugo had the chance to travel to England and Sweden visiting relatives and seeing the country their parents came from. Phyllis once commented that they drive over a 100 in England on some roads and we said “that’s not that fast”, she said “no that is 100 mph!”, I guess that’s fast.

In her last years, although it was sometimes difficult, she seldom complained and most often shared a smile. She always liked to have her hair permed and her fingernails painted and enjoyed an ice cream or a fresh strawberry once in awhile.

Phyllis was predeceased by her parents, her husband, her sister Mildred, and brothers Stewart and Roger. Left to mourn are her daughter Karen (Dave) Reddekopp and their three children Jason, Holli and Jamie, and sons Conrad (Peggie) and their three children Kari, Sara and Owen, and Robert (Pat) and their two boys Shawn and Aaron and 14 great grand children. Most of the family was able to attend Phyllis’s 95th birthday last August which, in hindsight, was a blessing.

She was a daughter, a wife, a mother, a grandmother and a great grandmother but most of all she was an honest, kind and generous person. She was a testament to a life well lived and she once said we are all here on this earth to prove ourselves. A wise person also once said “we don’t want to rust out, it’s better to wear out”. Well, I think we can say Phyllis proved herself and unfortunately, she finally played out. She will be missed, please send her home.

We do want to thank her many friends and neighbours over the many years, the Leroy Home, Oliver Lodge in Saskatoon and Tompkins Funeral Home.