Donald K. Olson

1943 - 2025

Donald K. Olson

December 9, 1943 - December 30, 2025

Donald K. Olson, the much-loved former Physics and Math teacher of La Crosse Central High School and Western (Wisconsin) Technical College, passed away peacefully on December 30, 2025 at the age of 82. He died as a result of rapidly progressing Parkinson's Disease linked to exposure to Agent Orange during his military service on the Destroyer Edson in the Tonkin Gulf in 1965.

Don was born December 9, 1943 on a cold wintry night in his family's farmhouse. The doctor said if he lived until morning, he would be all right. He graduated from Amery High School with an emphasis on sports (wrestling, football, and track), and a day after graduation he embarked to San Diego, Calif., for Naval basic training. Don was very proud of his military service. After completing Electronic Technical School, he was stationed for 13 months off the coast of Viet Nam and was responsible for maintaining communication equipment. After his discharge in 1966, he moved to River Falls, Wisc., where he put his GI Bill to good use and earned his undergrad degree in Physics and Math and later got his Master's degree in Applied Mathematics at UWL.

While in college, he met and married the love of his life, Kathy Lindner, his Chemistry lab partner. Their daughter, Erika, was born in 1978. Don was a very proud father, and he and Kathy instilled the importance of service in Erika. Over the years, he championed his daughter through Peace Corps in Burkina Faso, Medical School and Infectious Disease Fellowship, volunteering with Doctors Without Borders in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and serving the Navajo and Hopi Nations through her work with the Indian Health Service.

Don taught at Central High School for 25 years and at WTC for 15 years influencing numerous students along the way through his engaging, entertaining, and often irreverent teaching style. Don is preceded in death by his wife of 45 years, Kathy (2014), who was also a WTC educator, and his daughter, Dr. Erika L. Olson (2025), who was a Hospitalist and Infectious Disease physician. He is survived by two of his five siblings, Melvin and Muriel, who live in the Minneapolis area.

Prior to his daughter's passing, Don and Erika set in motion a Charitable Foundation. The Dr. Erika Olson Charitable Foundation has been established to contribute to various causes encompassing adult literacy, social justice, and women's reproductive options treatment/counseling and La Crosse area conservation efforts. His final wish was to donate his body to the University of Wisconsin Medical School to educate future students. Before her death, his daughter teased him that that would be the only way he would get into medical school. Regardless, he left his mark on countless students and colleagues in La Crosse throughout the decades. Before his death, Don requested that there be no memorial service.

Instead please consider sending a contribution via check to Poehling Capital Management, Inc, C/O Thomas Poehling, 525 Junction Rd, Suite 8900, Madison, WI 53717 made out to Dr. Erika L. Olson Charitable Foundation. Local friends who want to remember Don are invited to The Bluffside at 7 p.m. on January 28, 2026. Coulee Region Cremation Group is assisting the family.