Peggy Olson

Peggy Louise (Fletcher) Olson was born on February 4, 1941 to Everett and Alice (Wimer) Fletcher at home in Ringgold County Iowa. The family lived in central and southern Iowa as her father farmed, moving to Diagonal during Peggy's junior year of high school. It was here that Peggy met Ted Olson. They married on July 5, 1959, just a few months following their graduation from Diagonal High School. To this union came four children in the first four years of their marriage. They were married 66 years before his death just 4 months ago.

Peggy was a stay-at-home mom as her children grew, but she always seemed to be working to contribute to the household budget. Whether she was babysitting, selling Avon or handing out samples at Fareway where Ted worked, she was never still. She was active in Scouting alongside Ted, a long-time Den Mother who transitioned to training new Scout leaders as her boys got older. Not one to neglect her girls, Peggy formed her own 4-H club when she found the local Brownie pack to be wanting.

When the family moved to Harlan in 1980, Peggy took a job working for a local catering company. This would prove to be a pivotal move for her. She was exposed to the inner workings of the business and learned everything from serving sizes to presentation. When Ted left Fareway, he and Peggy bought a small grocery store in Mitchellville, Iowa and called it Olson Foods. While in the store, Peggy started catering lunches and developing a client base that would follow her for the next 40 years. After leaving the store, she opened Peggy's Pantry and Catering. She could always count on her children and grandchildren to help in the restaurant and catering business. It is estimated that Peggy served in excess of 2,000,000 meals over her career. While we will all miss her hot beef sandwiches and lasagna, we are all blessed that Peggy was never stingy with her serving sizes or her recipes.

Peggy never really retired, serving senior meals and assisting with Mitchellville Community Center meals and Mitchellville Christian Church Harvest Dinners until her health declined in the last year. Along the way she was instrumental in the building of the Mitchellville Community Center, serving as a Mitchellville City Council Member and a member of the Mitchellville Board of Adjustments. She was equally as active in any church that she and Ted attended, teaching Sunday school when the kids were small and most recently raising funds to remodel the kitchen at Mitchellville Christian Church after the church experienced water damage.

Left to cherish her memory are her four children Ted Jr. (Jennifer) Olson and their son Travis (Emily), Shirlye (Sylvester) Gaskin and their sons Sylvester III (Felisia) and Kyle, Kristina (Tom) Foss and their daughters Samantha (Patrick) Halsey, Alica (Blair) Billings and Margaret, and Troy Olson and his children Alexandria (Mark) Clifton, Nicholas (Bailley), and twelve great-grandchildren, the most recent arriving on the day she passed. Additionally, Peggy leaves her sister Patricia Bird and brothers Rich and Tom Fletcher. Her sisters-in-law, Bonnie Fletcher, Jolene Fletcher and Dorothy Dick, Sue Phipps, Diana Olson, brother-in-law Dale Magee along with numerous nieces, nephews, friends and colleagues.

Peggy is preceded in death by her loving husband of 66 years, Ted, her parents, Everett and Alice Fletcher, her sister Karen Magee, brothers John, Dave, Ed, Charlie, Larry and Steve, her father and mother-in law Vinnie and Darlene Olson and her brother-in-law John Olson.

A visitation will be held at the United Church of Diagonal, Diagonal, Iowa, on Friday, February 13 from 10:00 am to 11:00 am with a service beginning at 11:00 am. Following a luncheon at the United Church of Diagonal, burial will occur in the Maple Hill Cemetery at Cromwell, Iowa.

A celebration of life will be held at the Mitchellville Community Center on Sunday, February 15 from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm.

Memorials are to the Mitchellville Christian Church and Mitchellville Community Center Seniors.