Olga M Wise

Olga (a.k.a. Lindy) Marie (Lindgren) Wise passed away on Friday, March 6 at the of age 95 in Fort Pierce, Florida. Our mother was born May 22, 1930, in Jessie Lake, MN to Martha (Edwardson) and Oscar Lindgren. Olga was a loving wife to Jay Wise (d. 2106) for 66 ½ years and a devoted mother to Susan, Jim and Bob.

Olga Lindgren was born in northern Minnesota at the beginning of the Great Depression. She did not have an easy childhood on many, many levels. Almost freezing to death (really) was only one of them. Our mom was known as "Lindy" for sixty years from high school until Jay passed, which required all sorts of name changes on bank accounts, etc. She easily reverted to Olga. Olga graduated from Deer River High School in 1947 and soon moved to Ames, Iowa. That is where Mom met Jay Wise and married the love of her life on New Years Eve, 1949. She then proceeded to devote her life to her family. Olga worked as a bookkeeper and accountant throughout the years. That no doubt contributed to her being a phenomenal record keeper of her family's many, many life events. She was a master seamstress, knitter, cook, masseuse and gardener.

Dad's early career took him to Ely and Duluth, MN, where their three children were born. In 1956, Olga packed up the kids, aged one to four, and followed Dad from Ely to a forestry job on Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas. Again, life was not easy, but at least there was no snow and she had her family. Many more moves followed as Dad's career advanced - West Palm Beach (four times), Abaco Island, Jacksonville (twice), Orange, TX, Andros Island, Tomahawk, WI, and Toledo, OH – thirteen moves in all before settling in Fort Pierce, FL 30 years ago. That "settling" didn't last long as she and Jay soon bought a fifth-wheel camper and hit the road, visiting every state in the continental US and all Canadian provinces over a ten-year period. Mom visibly beamed every time those camper trips came up in conversation for the rest of her life. Mom cherished every mile (each of which she recorded in her logbooks). She and Jay also made yearslong contributions to Florida chapters of the Sons of Norway, Sons of the American Revolution, Heathcote Botanical Gardens, and the Audubon Society.

Mother's passion, when she and Dad were not on the road, was genealogy research, about which she excelled. In addition to researching the Lindgrens (back to 1848) and the Wises (back to 1720) she offered her expertise to many, many family and friends. She tracked down enough Norwegians and Swedes to form another Scandinavian country.

Olga was preceded in death by her husband Jay, siblings Ruby, Bill, Mable, Jon, Linda Kay and Neal. She is survived by daughter Susan (Stu), Fort Pierce, and sons Jim (Pam), Irma, WI, and Bob (Nancy) Appleton, WI, three grandchildren (Amber, Mariah, and Larkin), one great grandchild (Amelie), and many loving nieces and nephews and friends.

Visitation in remembrance of Olga's life will be held on Tuesday, March 10th from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Yates Funeral Home, 1101 South US 1, Fort Pierce. Donations in memory of Lindy/Olga may be made to the Fort Pierce Treasure Coast Hospice (treasurehealth.org/455/Saint-Lucie-County). We thank them from the bottom of our hearts for their service and compassion in Mom's last days.