James Robert Olson, 85, passed away De­cem­ber 18, 2022 in Las Cruces, New Mex­ico. Jim Olson was born Oc­to­ber 3, 1937  in Tom­a­hawk, Wis­con­sin to Robert C. and Mar­guerite D,  (Allen) Olson.   The fam­ily later moved to Mer­rill, Wis­con­sin where Jim and his sib­lings at­tended Franklin Grade School and Mer­rill High School.   He was ac­tive in sports and re­ceived All Con­fer­ence Hon­ors as a mem­ber of the Blue Jay bas­ket­ball team. Say­ing “It was a team game” he often cred­ited team­mates Bill Weber, Les Smith, Larry Plautz, Skip Ott and oth­ers.  Jim en­listed in  the  U.S.  Air  Force  in  1954  where  he con­tin­ued play­ing bas­ket­ball with var­i­ous trav­el­ing Air Force  teams  dur­ing  his  ser­vice  time.  Upon re­ceiv­ing an hon­or­able discharge after 4 years of ser­vice, he joined his fam­ily who, by then, had re­lo­cated to South­ern Cal­i­for­nia.  He  at­tended  Ven­tura  Col­lege  be­fore  trans­fer­ring to  Chico  State  Uni­ver­sity  where  he  gradu­ated  with  a  Bach­e­lors De­gree.   Jim had a long and var­i­ous ca­reer that in­cluded Gen­eral Motors and later na­tional sales jobs where he trav­eled through­out the U.S.   After be­com­ing tired of travel and being away from home he changed ca­reers and be­came a High School teacher that led to be­com­ing a Var­sity Foot­ball Coach and later a Vice Prin­ci­pal.   Jim finished his career teach­ing High School in the Cal­i­for­nia State Penal Sys­tem. At re­tire­ment he moved to Tucson, AZ to me near his mother and brother, Harry. Later he and his daugh­ter, Jana Olson, moved to Las Cruces where he spent the re­main­der of his life.

He was pre­ceded in death by his par­ents, sis­ter Chris­tine and daugh­ter Lynn. His sur­vivors include daugh­ter: Jana Olson, grand­son: Adam Olson, broth­ers: Jack and wife Joanie, San Antonio, TX. and Harry  and  wife  Linda  of Tuc­son AZ., in ad­di­tion to other fam­ily mem­bers in­clud­ing nephews and nieces.