Oliver Kermit Olson

Oliver K. Olson, age 98, of Northfield, formerly of Adrian, died Tuesday, August 5, 2025, at the Redeemer Residence in Minneapolis.

Oliver Kermit Olson was born in Superior, Wisconsin, to Pastor Louis and Serine Olson on April 12, 1927. In 1935 his family moved to Climax, Minnesota where he was confirmed and graduated from high school. Just before his 18th birthday in 1944 he enlisted in the Navy. He served as hospital corpsman at the Naval hospital in Long Beach, and was discharged in the fall of 1946. He attended Augsburg College and graduated from St. Olaf College in 1950. He attended the summer session of the University of Oslo and began graduate study at the University of Iowa in classical studies.

He matriculated at Luther Seminary, St. Paul. His internship was at Richland Lutheran Church in Richland, Washington. After ordination he entered the Navy for the second time, and was detailed as the first chaplain assigned to Destroyer Escorts. In the Atlantic, he served Destroyer Escort Squadrons 16 and 18, and the USS Eldorado, flagship of Amphibious Group One. He retired as Commander, Chaplain Corps, USNR.

He served as assistant pastor at Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church in Seattle before beginning graduate work at the University of Hamburg in Germany. While in Europe, he attended language schools in Arolsen (Hessen), in Bavaria, Paris, Vichy and Villefranche (Cöte d'Azur), served as tutor at the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Haus at the University of Bonn and was awarded a doctoral degree at Hamburg.

As a teacher at St. Olaf College, he circled the world as leader of the first Global Semester. He also taught at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia before returning to Germany, this time as Stipendiat at the Herzog August Library at Wolfenbüttel. Awarded the library's "Standing Invitation," and at the same time invited to Marquette University in Milwaukee, he spent several years alternating continents.

He re-founded a theology journal, the Lutheran Quarterly, now in its 41st year of publication. In addition to smaller books, in 2002 he published Matthias Flacius and the Survival of Luther's Reform, a biography of a Croatian pupil of Martin Luther. On the basis of its translation into Serbo-Croat, the government of Flacius' hometown (Labin, Croatia) granted him honorary citizenship, and established a library for Flacian and Lutheran studies.

Oliver was preceded in death by his parents, his sister Carolyn Carlsen (Glenn) and brother Howard Olson (Phyllis). He is survived by nieces and nephews: Mary Carlsen (Peter Dahlen), John Carlsen, Rolf Carlsen (Rosemary), Karen Carlsen (David Greenlund), Sarah Carlsen (Brad Hoff), Teri (Olson) Collaro (Anthony), Kirk Olson (Suzanne Hunstad), and Amy (Olson) Zastrow (Eric), and their families. Special thanks to the staff at Redeemer Health and Rehab in south Minneapolis for the excellent care he received at the end of his life.

A family graveside service will be held at a later date in Adrian, MN. Memorials preferred to the OKO Endowment Fund of the Lutheran Quarterly. Checks can be made out to Lutheran Quarterly, 1377 Big Canoe Road, Decorah, Iowa 52101 or online at www.lutheranquarterly.org.