Kristin M Olson

Kristin Mary Olson, age, 55 years of Haddon Heights, NJ, passed peacefully on September 8, 2025. She was preceded in passing by her husband, Scott J. Colan and is survived by her sons, Charles and Marshall. She is the daughter of Arthur and Camille (née Plate) Olson and leaves her brothers, John, James and Matthew (Elizabeth).
She also leaves her mother-in-law, Anne (nee Kennedy), sisters-in-law Kelly (Dominic) DeRosa and Dawn (Julian) Mason, brother-in-law Shawn (Mary) Colan and many nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews as well as, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, many friends and two cats.
Relatives and friends are invited to attend her Memorial Mass 11:00a.m. Saturday, October 11. 2025 at St, Mary of the Lakes R.C. Church, 40 Jackson Road, Medford, NJ. Attendees are invited to arrive for Visitation as early as 10am. Following the Mass, there will be a gathering of family & friends at the Medford Lakes Country Club, 70 Oak Drive, Medford Lakes, NJ beginning 1230pm. All are welcome to attend and celebrate Kristin's life.
In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate any memorial donations in Kristin's name to one of the following charities:
National Audubon Society https://www.audubon.org Membership & Giving > Donate
Mission MSA (Multiple System Atrophy) https://donate.missionmsa.org/give/562187/#!/donation/checkout
Voorhees Animal Orphanage https://www.vaonj.org/support/donate/
How to briefly summarize someone's lifetime in any meaningful way? It's an impossible exercise; but hopefully by just reading this, a memory will unlock and you'll smile, cry or both. Kristin (Kris, Krissy, Krispy, Kricket) was born November 15, 1969, in Elizabeth NJ the second child to Art & Camille. Her family moved within Union County in quick succession from Elizabeth to Hillside to Cranford by the time she was in kindergarten, adding two brothers on the way. Cranford is the place she spent most of her childhood, and while not Avonlea of her beloved Anne of Green Gables, it was a great little town for a kid to grow up in. Many of her life-long passions were established here – being utterly consumed in a book, a love of animals and nature, music and the joy it brings, mischief and laughter with siblings and friends, a profound love of the holidays and how it made everyone a little bit better and an interest in life beyond the Earth (she loved aliens, but only the benevolent kind of aliens).
Her family relocated for the final time to Medford as she began high school and continued to hone her passions through playing the cello, developing an admirably eclectic taste in music, film and literature and becoming an avid Birder (she might prefer Twitcher, as she also became a bit of an anglophile). Post HS graduation she began classes at Burlington County Community College and transferred to Glassboro State College (now Rowan University), eventually graduating with a BA in Psychology. Between grade school, high school and college, she made many dear friends who became as important to her as family. And like many, she had different styles through these formative years – from making fun of preppies, to becoming preppy, to making fun of preppies again, a mild and brief period of goth, to alternative to just her own simple style. But all along she was the same Kristin – introspective, kind, and who loved to laugh.
In young adulthood she settled in the South Jersey area, living in Haddonfield and Philadelphia, to remain close to family, friends and Philly nightlife - yes, she also very much enjoyed a beer accompanied by a cigarette. Professionally she used her college degree and innate empathy to pursue a career where she could help others, working first at the Bancroft School and then later the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging. One memorable day she met Scott - they dated, made each other laugh, fell in love, married and started a family of their own. Their two sons,Charles Rory and Marshall James were both born within the first few years of their marriage. A few years before she met Scott, Kristin had begun pursuing a graduate degree in Pastoral Care part-time and took a hiatus with the intention of eventually continuing. I think many of us believed that this was her calling, but that was until we saw her as a Mom. In Motherhood she blossomed and thrived, taking the lessons learned from all the mothers she knew and admired, and applying her own unique way.
We're all better for knowing and loving you Krispy.