Mary Olson

Mary Olson passed away peacefully at her home in Bothell, WA on November 12, 2025. She was born March 19, 1930, in Rhodes, Greece to Athanasios Antonoglou and Irene Charalambi. She was predeceased by her sister Katrina who she spoke with frequently up until her passing. She is survived by her son, Eric, and her grandkids Milo and Rosalie.

From the time she was a child getting into trouble for climbing trees, Mary was driven to learn, explore and achieve. By the time she came to the United States at the age of 32, she was fluent in English, French and Italian as well as her native Greek. In 1964 she earned her A.A. degree at Sacramento City College, CA with a 4.0 GPA. In 1967 she earned a B.A. with honors at Sacramento State College and met Richard (a.k.a. "Dick") Olson, whom she married on August 8th, 1967.

Mary went to work as a bank teller and French high school teacher to support the couple while Dick went to graduate school. They moved to Pennsylvania to attend Penn State University and in 1970, their son Eric was born. In 1972 Mary was officially granted U.S. citizenship and she and Dick suffered the hardship of burying their newborn daughter Irene, who was born prematurely on July 4 th and lived just 22 days.

In 1975, Mary earned the Degree of Master of Library Science at State University of New York at Buffalo and the family settled down in Norwalk, CT shortly thereafter. Mary worked as a librarian in public libraries and high schools before becoming the librarian of the research library of Zotos International. There, she used her knowledge of languages to translate and organize the international scientific materials for the chemists.

Once retired, Dick and Mary enjoyed traveling internationally and Mary documented those travels diligently in her photo books, which sat alongside the volumes of photo books she kept for the family. Ever productive, Mary knitted many sweaters for her son and grandkids, wrote long letters to her son frequently, and made many of her own clothes with her sewing skills. She was a lifelong parishioner of St. Jerome's Catholic Church, enjoyed playing bridge, and loved the Carol Burnett Show and I Love Lucy. She was proud of her Greek heritage and would point out words that were derived from the Greek language whenever possible.

By 2017, Dick's Alzheimer's had become too much for Mary to manage on her own. She moved him to Washington state in order to be closer to Eric and their grandkids. Dick eventually had to move into a facility for memory care, which was not easy to accept after 50 years of marriage. In her new one bedroom apartment, Mary kept it so well maintained and stylish that she was asked if it could be used as the "show room" for prospective tenants of the complex.

On Nov 30, 2022, Dick passed away. Despite her heartbreak, Mary never lost her smile or her drive. Up until the very end, she was still a voracious reader, enjoying books by Tom Hanks in her final weeks, who himself became a Greek Citizen and co-produced "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", in case you didn't know.

Mary touched many lives and she will be deeply missed by those who knew her. A private graveside service will be held by her immediate family.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Vincent DePaul.