[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 145 (Friday, October 24, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H9542-H9543]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       IN MEMORY OF DONALD OLSON

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Gutknecht] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTKNECHT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a special 
friend of mine who was called home to glory just in the past couple of 
weeks. On August 19, 1923, a baby was born to Melvin and Agnes Olson at 
Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire, WI. They named him Donald. Two 
weeks ago on

[[Page H9543]]

October 3, Don Olson died in St. Paul, MN. I am honored that I was able 
to have met him during his 74 years of life, the time God gave him to 
be on this Earth, and I am blessed to have called him my friend.
  After graduating from his rural Wisconsin high school in 1941, Don 
answered his country's call to duty and served in the 70th Army Air 
Force Technical Training Detachment during World War II. He graduated 
from the Army Air Forces Navigation School in San Marcos, TX in 1945. 
After the war, Don came back to Minnesota and graduated cum laude from 
St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, which is also in my district; he 
earned a master's degree from the University of Minnesota in 1949; and 
later a law degree from the St. Paul College of Law.
  Earlier this week I was telling my staff about Don Olson and I said, 
he probably has forgotten more about government and the way it is 
supposed to work than most of us will ever know. That was not an 
exaggeration. After working in the Minnesota State legislature, Don 
came out here to Washington and served in the office of Senator Ed 
Thye, worked as congressional liaison for the Small Business 
Administration, and later he was the administrative assistant in the 
office of Minnesota Congressman Ancher Nelson, where he served for 14 
years.
  In 1974, Don returned to the Midwest when he was hired by a little 
family clinic in my district, run by the Mayo brothers, to be their 
governmental affairs specialist. He was the first person that Mayo 
Clinic ever hired to do this important job, and his work was nothing 
short of outstanding in his 14 years there until he retired in 1988.
  It was during his years at Mayo that I met Don Olson. It was about 
1976. He was always a man of impeccable honesty and a record of 
personal integrity that no one would ever question. He was also the 
kind of person that you could confide in. You could tell Don Olson your 
deepest fears and know that they would go no further than his ears.
  Robert Frost once wrote, ``Government is a thing made of men and it 
dies as the men who made it die.'' With these words in mind, I cannot 
think of a better place for me to remember Don Olson than from the 
floor of this House of Representatives.
  I know that Don's daughters Tina and Lori as well as his son Wayne 
and his loving wife of 38 years, Terri, are watching this afternoon. I 
want you all to know that my thoughts and prayers continue to be with 
you. This is a great loss for the family, it is a great loss for me, 
and it is a great loss for America.

                          ____________________