John Olson (1930 – 2020)

Johannes Olsen was born near Ostrup, Denmark to Hans Peder Olsen and Meta Marie (Jensen) Olsen. He spent his early years on the family farm and served a required term in the Danish army. He and his brother Bill (Emil) emigrated to Canada in the early 1950s and a clerical error changed the family name to Olson. The brothers worked on farms in Ontario and then stopped briefly in British Columbia before arriving in the Yukon. John met and married Doreen Olson and they had three children together. John’s first job was a bartender at the Penguin in Dawson. He worked on the gold dredges, on cat trains supplying drilling operation in the Arctic, driving truck, and as a foreman or heavy equipment operator in the mines or with the Department of Highways. After forty years in the Yukon, he and his partner Donna Mendelsohn moved to a small farm near Fort Assiniboine, Alberta. In 2018, they retired and moved to Devon, Alberta. John is remembered as finding humour in any situation. In Dawson, he is survived by son Timothy Olson, niece Jackie Olson, and nephew William Olson Jr. His daughter, Maureen (Gary) Birckel, lives in Whitehorse.¹⁾