Marline Yeiko Olson, nee Tamagi (1912 - 1999)
Marline Tamagi was born in Vancouver to recent Japanese immigrants Masuyei and Kanako Tagami. Marline was the oldest of nine children. When she was four years old, Marline and her pregnant mother and two-year-old sister, Winnie, went back to Japan to live with her maternal grandparents. Her brother Keno was born in Japan. Their mother returned to Canada, leaving the children in Japan. Marline joined her parents at the age of eleven and they lived in Diamond City, Alberta. Winnie followed her, and they went to school together until their father decided they knew enough English to go out and work. They went to barber school and opened a shop in Lethbridge. They were forced to close their shop in 1932 during the depression and, after two years, were told by their parents that it was time to get married. The sisters moved to Vancouver and got work as housekeepers. In 1934, they moved back to Alberta and started a fruit stall in City Hall Market.1)
Marline and Winnie Tagami moved to Dawson in 1939. During the Second World War they were on parole and had to report weekly to the RCMP. They eventually started a beauty and barbershop and Marline was the barber. She met Jack Olson when he was in the Army Reserve, and after his discharge they were married in 1946. They adopted daughter Jaqueline in 1952 and son Marvin in 1954. They purchased a retail jewellery store and sold china, books, and ladies clothing. Marline was a good salesman, and she loved to entertain and invite friends to dinner. The Olsons retired to the Shuswap in 1976 and Jack died in 1983. Marline and Winnie moved to Kelowna and lived together until Marline experienced health problems and moved to Salmon Arm to live with her daughter’s family, Jaqueline and Colin Mayes.2)