Olive Brand

1918 - 2020

BRAND, Olive

left this world a better place on May 21, 2020, just months after her 102nd birthday. Born Marguerite Olive Strong on March 31, 1918 in Portland Oregon, Olive moved to Tucson with her family in 1922. She was the daughter of Arizona pioneer Marguerite "Billie" Brown Strong and Professor Leon Strong. Her grandfather J K Brown homesteaded a stagecoach stop in Sahuarita and was elected sheriff of Pima County just before the turn of the century. Olive had three brothers, Lyon, William, and James. William turned 100 this month with her other brothers pre-deceasing her.

Like her mother and father, Olive attended and graduated from the University of Arizona, the class of 1939. While at the U of A, she met the love of her life, Terrel Mark Brand. They married in 1941 and honeymooned in Mexico City for three months. While in Mexico, Olive completed her teaching certificate at the Autonomous University. Making their homes between Arizona and California, both Olive and Mark taught at various grade levels. During World War II, they taught general studies and Spanish in a detention camp of Japanese Americans in the Poston Colorado River Relocation camp in Yuma, AZ until it closed in 1945. Later in life they lived in Tempe until Mark's retirement and their move to San Manuel, AZ. Upon Mark's death, Olive returned to Tucson and spent the rest of her life enriching the lives of friends and family. She pined for Mark, the love of her life, until she rejoined him in heaven.

Olive and Mark had four children, Roger, Terrel, Evan and Alison. Unfortunately, all of her children pre-deceased her with the exception of Alison who still resides in Tucson. Although she had no grandchildren of her own, she was the loving aunt/aunty to the children of her brothers and had many great-nieces and nephews and great-great-nephews.

Olive loved to learn and continued to teach those around her about the family's history. She told of growing up in Tucson, knowing the Pusch family (Pusch Ridge) Ina Gettings (Ina Road) and other Tucson family notables. No one loved, more than Olive, the Tucson desert, the natural beauty of the Catalina Mtns, its desert plants, and colorful Tucson sunsets. She loved to recite memorized poems and limericks, hum a tune, a good joke (dirty or otherwise), play the piano, collect music, the symphony, and the company of her family when they visited. She was quick to correct your grammar, Spanish pronunciation, and the correct way to say Tucson. She was amazed by "Google" but sometimes could beat it to the answer.

In 2016, at the age of 98, Olive decided to donate her body to the University of Arizona Medical department through its Willed Body Program. In a video she explained that new doctors needed to learn what "an old person looks like on the inside". The Willed Body Program refers to its donors as "teachers". As a "Wildcat for Life," she returns to her alma mater. Olive will continue her love of teaching through her death.

We want to thank the staff and caregivers of Senior Helpers and particularly Maree Johnson, her constant caregiver during her last three years of her life. She was more than a caregiver to Olive, a loved girlfriend and truly an angel in her life. We also want to thank the staff at El Rancho Encanto Assisted Living for their attention to Olive, making her last few months as quality filled as they could be. And while we could not give her the hugs she deserved these past months, we could still see her shining smile through a window and talk to her by phone. One niece properly called her the "sparkle" of the family.

There will be a private family celebration of life at a later date.