MELVIN ALBERT OLSON
October 19, 1948 - March 22, 2016

Mel was born in Lewiston, Maine to parents, Melvin Erlon Olson and Louise Mabel Osborne Olson. He grew up in Auburn, Maine along with his sister Judy Olson Lemberg. In the summers, they lived in a cottage in South Harpswell, Maine where, as a teenager, he worked on a lobster boat for the season. In high school, he was on the varsity football team and was #51, playing center on offense and linebacker on defense. He was an avid downhill skier. He graduated from Edward Little High School in 1967 and attended 1 year of college at the University of Maine.

He started out his adult life selling computers for NCR. In 1979, he moved to Lancaster, NH and was employed as a manager at Reilly Tire Corporation. In 1984, he moved to Hopkinton, NH and managed another branch of Reilly Tire Corporation out of Raymond, NH. In the Spring of 1987, he started his own truck tire retreading business located in Gorham, NH and named it Mountain Tire Corporation. I can still remember us designing the company logo. The "M" was an upside down "W" and we put snow caps in the top of the "M" to represent the mountains. He worked hard at that business, starting from the ground up. He did it all, from office work, to working in the shop, to delivering tires, you name it. I was always so proud of him at how smart he was and all that he accomplished. In February 2006, they relocated the business to Berlin, NH.

He had 2 children from a previous marriage. He loved his children immensely! When we first started dating, he told me never to make him choose between his children or me; he would choose his children. I always admired him for that. He thought the world of them and that spoke volumes of his commitment and dedication to them. He has a daughter, Jenny Olson MacKay (born in March 1970), who he was so happy for when she graduated from nursing school and started her life as a nurse. When she met and married her husband, Scott MacKay, it pleased him to see her happy. His son, Melvin Eric Olson (born December 1972), followed along in Mel's footsteps with the business and he too, started from the ground up working in all aspects of the business. They have worked side by side to have a very successful business and Mel was so proud and pleased with the young man his son has become. Because of Melvin Eric and his wife, Jen Dagesse Olson, working in the business, they made it possible for Mel and I to move to Port St. Lucie, Florida in July of 2001. Mel got to semi-retire and really enjoy life. That was a very special gift they gave to both of us.

Our relationship began in 1985 and after being together for 10 years, we married on December 24, 1995. We had 30 great years together!!!! During these years, we had many wonderful dogs in our life. It was Mel who showed me how much love and companionship you can have with a dog. Daphne (chocolate lab), Digger (yellow lab), Samantha (Chesapeake Bay Retriever) and Sandy (Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever Mix - a "potcake dog" from the Bahamas) were a huge part of our life. Digger was our first puppy together. I told Mel he wouldn't get on the furniture, wouldn't sleep in the bed and wouldn't eat table scraps. Mel had other ideas and guess what, he did all those things and more! Mel showed me they are more than just dogs, they are Family. So grateful he introduced me to the love of dogs. Mel also was the one who got me into quilting in 1991. He said we needed a quilt for our bed and I should make one. He bought me a new sewing machine, I took a class and the rest is history. Little did he know at the time how much he would be involved in my quilting! He became my "Design guy" and I valued his honesty and his eye for realism.

When our grandchildren, Shelby Bigue and Zachary Bigue (Jenny's children) and Melvin Jacob Olson and Luke Olson (Mel and Jen's children) came along, he lit up with fun and laughter whenever he spent time with them. He was a big kid playing along side of them. He was very proud of all of their accomplishments and their biggest cheerleader. "Give 'em hell" kids, in all that you do. Remember, Dee Dee will be there with you every step of the way! He's your biggest fan!

He was a huge New York Giants Football fan and passed that love of football on to all the Family. He was a private pilot and logged 3500 hours of flying time in Beechcraft Bonanza V-tail airplanes. He would buy older airplanes and fix them up to looking and running like new. He would wax and polish them until the paint looked like it had just been newly painted. He loved fishing and boating and had many hours out to sea. He would fish alone or take people with him and was always happy to catch a sailfish or Mahi Mahi. When we lived in NH, the catch would be sea bass. We had so much fish, we couldn't keep it all and it pleased him to share the catch with many people. He owned many Corvettes and Mini Coopers. The Mini Coopers were his "rainy day" cars. He discovered track driving in December of 2014 and a Mini Cooper was his first track car. He soon upgraded to a Corvette on the track and he was in his glory! He would work on these cars and wax them more times than I could count. They were so shiny, it was like looking in a mirror and seeing your reflection.

Mel will be watching over all of our shoulders, not weighing us down, but carrying us through our lives. He has made a huge impact on my life and his love will always be with me throughout the rest of my days.

Contributions as a memorial may to Lung Transplantation Medicine at Mayo Clinic-Jacksonville
Mayo Clinic Department of Development, 4500 San Pablo Road, Jacksonville, FL 32224.
Please indicate on gift "in memory of Melvin Olson"

Written in remembrance with love, his wife, Theresa Maria Meunier Olson