Mavis Olson

Funeral services for retired elementary school teacher, Mrs. Mavis A. (Clayton) Olson, age 71, of Milbank, will begin at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, February 26, 2009, at the American Evangelical Lutheran Church in Milbank. The Reverends Craig Werling and Janine Rew-Werling will officiate. The organist will be Carol Ydstie, and the soloist will be Brenda Maass. Mavis died on Saturday, February 21, 2009, at the Milbank Area Hospital/Avera Health.Family members are asked to meet in the church chapel by 9:30 a.m. Thursday to attend services. Visitation will be at the Emanuel-Patterson Funeral Home in Milbank on Wednesday from 4-7 p.m. and in the church Thursday one hour before services. Honorary pallbearers will be her fellow retired teachers and members of the American Legion Auxiliary Post #9 of Milbank. Active pallbearers will be Ryan McCulloch, Tom Dietz, Brett Olson, Chad Knutson, Glen Larson, and Jon Labraaten. Burial will be in the Milbank City Cemetery. Mavis was born on April 21, 1937, at Madison, MN, the daughter of Trygve and Florence (Kohls) Labraaten. She attended kindergarten through the fifth grade in Louisburg and Appleton, MN; and the sixth grade through her graduation from Madison High School in Madison, MN. She graduated from Moorhead State College in Moorhead, MN, in 1958. Mavis was united in marriage to Clayton Olson on June 21, 1959, at the Minnesota Valley Church near Louisburg, MN. They would have celebrated fifty years of marriage in June of this year.She taught at Marshall, MN, for one year and in Ortonville, MN, for three years and in Milbank for several years before taking time off in 1965 to raise a family. She returned to teaching in 1978 and taught mainly fifth graders at Koch Elementary School until her retirement in 2000.She was a member of the American Evangelical Lutheran Church in Milbank where she was active in the quilter's group and WELCA circle. Mavis was also an active member of the American Legion Auxiliary, Post #9, in Milbank, the Excelsior Study Club, and the Milbank Area Retired Teachers Association. She also volunteered at the Thrift Store in Milbank. Mavis was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and friend with a keen sense of humor. She enjoyed family genealogy and accomplished a life goal of traveling to Norway. She loved gardening, spending time with her family, especially her grandchildren, and traveling to visit friends and relatives.Survivors include her husband Clayton, of rural Milbank; her three daughters, Lisa McCulloch and husband Dennis, of Valley City, ND; Jodi Dietz and husband Wayne, of Albert Lea, MN; and Kristin Fjelstad and husband Zach, of Moorhead, MN; her son Cal Olson and wife Miranda, of Fargo, ND; nine grandchildren; her sister, Alice Knutson, of Clearbrook, MN; her brother, Dick Labraaten, and wife Bev, of Bemidji, MN; and several cousins, nieces, and nephews.