Maxine Olson

Maxine J. Olson, age 62, of Willmar, died Monday evening, February 6, at her residence in Willmar following a courageous battle with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease).

Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, February 11, at the Church of St. Mary in Willmar. Interment will be in the church cemetery. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the church on Saturday. In lieu of flowers, memorials to ALS Association of Minnesota (www.alsmn.org) or Rice Hospice are preferred.

Maxine Joyce Olson was born July 4, 1954, in Redwood Falls, Minnesota, the daughter of Jerome and Opal (Scharfencamp) Malecek. She was baptized and confirmed in the Catholic faith. Maxine attended grade school at St. Michael's Catholic School in Morgan, graduated from Morgan Public High School in 1972 and then attended the Willmar Vo-Tech. In November 1974, she was united in marriage to Kevin Swart and they made their home in Willmar. This union was blessed with two wonderful daughters, Amy and Angela. They later divorced. On August 15, 1986, Maxine married John Olson and they made their home in Willmar. Maxine worked as a receptionist at the Willmar City Offices, Conway Deuth & Schmiesing, and West Central Mutual Farm Insurance. Maxine also worked as a childcare provider at the YMCA Daycare. She was a member of the Church of St. Mary in Willmar. She enjoyed volunteering, nature, music and musicals. Maxine cherished spending time with family, especially her grandchildren. She loved all creatures (big or small) that needed any care, especially dogs.

She is survived by her husband, John; two daughters, Amy (and Jaime) Smith of Minneapolis and Angela (and Steven) Hoppe of Spicer; four grandsons, Alex, Benjamin, Andrew and Ethan; three siblings, Steve (and Roxie) Malecek of Plano, TX., Susan (and Mike) Haubrich of Danube and Mark (and Roxy) Malecek of Redwood Falls, besides other relatives and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents.

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