Carl Edmund Olson

Carl Edmund Olson

September 14, 1937 - September 29, 2021

Carl Edmund Olson was born September 14, 1937 in Northampton, MA, the second of four children of Carl Olson Jr. and Elizabeth Armstrong Olson. In his youth, a child in a military family, Carl moved several times to Atlanta, GA and Fort Dodge, IA. His family settled in in Lincoln, NE where Carl graduated from Northeast High School in June 1956. He attended the University of Wisconsin, graduating in 1961 with a degree in Agricultural Economics, followed by an M.S. in Ag Econ from the University of Montana in Bozeman 1963.

While in Bozeman, he met and married his bride of 58 years, Joan Hill on July 2, 1963. They moved to Stillwater to attend Oklahoma State University and their first son, Carl J., was born in November of 1965. Carl received his PhD in Ag Econ from OSU in 1967. The family moved to Fargo, ND, where Carl was an Assistant and Associate Professor of Ag Econ. Daughter Jane E. was born in Fargo in January of 1968. The family moved yet again to Laramie, WY in October 1969, where Carl was an Associate and Full Professor of Ag Econ for 37 years at the University of Wyoming. Daughter Jennifer L. was born in Laramie in January of 1971.

Through his position at the University of Wyoming, Carl traveled extensively, spending time in Somalia, Russia, China, Brazil and Oman. In Oman, he was the head of the Department of Ag Econ at the Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat for two years. Carl retired from the University of Wyoming in June 2003 as a Professor Emeritus. He continued to teach an honors class three years after formal retirement.

Carl and Joan moved to Lincoln, NE in 2011 to be closer to family in Lincoln and Kansas. Over the years, Carl enjoyed hunting, fishing, woodworking, camping trips with grandkids, miniature trains, reading and gardening – Lincoln provided the right climate for Carl to finally grow some fantastic tomatoes. He and Joan volunteered at Madonna Rehab Hospital. He was a longtime member of Rotary International and a member of Southwood Lutheran Church in Lincoln.

Carl is preceded in death by his parents, Carl and Elizabeth Olson, sister Mary Norman and her husband Richard, and his beloved yellow Labrador Retriever, Jesse. Grateful for having shared his life are his relatives: wife Joan, three children: Carl Olson of Wichita, KS, Jane (Jamie) Kerl of Lincoln, and Jennifer Belcher of Hutchinson, KS, brother Robert(Nijole) Olson of Harrisburg, PA, and sister Evelyn (Steve) Britten of Rockling, CA. He is also survived by six grandchildren: Spencer (Erin) Kerl, Emily Kerl (Kenny McFarland), Stephanie Moore, C.J., Charlie and Tillie Belcher, and two great-grandchildren Peyton Vogt and Nell Kerl.

Memorial service to be held Saturday, October 2, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. at Lincoln Memorial Funeral Home, 6800 S. 14th Street in Lincoln. In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Carl are suggested to ALS in the Heartland at https://alsintheheartland.org