Jerry Olson
Three years ago, seems like the better part of a lifetime when I reflect on the Olson Reunion of 2016. To see and talk to family members one has not seen in some time, or in some cases, had never met before, is the implicit purpose. For some kinds of reunions, school class, for example, the focus is primarily in recalling a common past. Family reunions are different because the younger generations are the best part of it. Their stories and dreams are the most interesting.
At times I found myself just sitting quietly while overhearing the conversations of family members talking about what they were doing. Just the seemingly common things of ordinary life and it gave me a great sense of hope. Ordinary people doing ordinary things is what binds us together in communities. The younger generations can hopefully pick and choose from the tales of the older folks and acquire experience so they can repeat what seemed to work based on reflections, seasoned by time.
Another aspect of the reunion was just entertainment. Bits and pieces of the history of our family that each of us have from things we heard from our father, mother, or other relative. I was somewhat bemused by the seeming fact the Olson family reunion celebrates a family that has no agreed notion of how a young man from Norway wound up with a name spelled as if he was Swedish. Lots of theories on that. I accept the comment of a Swedish Doctor, at Duke Medical Center, when making rounds looked at my record and said “Just like a Norwegian. You do not even know how to spell your own name.” My mother told me that an immigration officer suggested Olson out of exasperation over trying to spell various alternatives given by my grandfather during processing. It is quite possible the Irishmen working at Ellis Island had a contest going on to see who could name the most people Olson in a week. Anyone who has worked in a bureaucratic organization would understand that as very possible.
My last thought on the name issue, and I asked others about it at the reunion, is this conundrum. Other folks talk about their name and a comment may follow, “Are you related to so and so?” For us there are an almost endless number of Olsons and odds are extraordinarily strong we are not related to any of them. Still we choose to be a family!!!
