Harriet J Oleson

Harriet Joyce Oleson, age 93, passed away on August 18, 2020 at Avante Care Center in Inverness, Florida. Joyce was born on January 20, 1927 in rural South Dakota. The family farmhouse did not have indoor plumbing, nor electricity, and was heated by a wood burning range. In the winter they would cut chunks of ice from the creek and store them in a cave that stayed cool in summer. Joyce was the youngest of six children. During the Great Depression 8-year-old Joyce caught gophers with a friend and earned 2 cents per tail, big money! She graduated from Faulkton High School in 1945 and worked at the RCA Defense plant in Lancaster, Pennsylvania during the summer of 1944. Riding the train and helping the war effort was thrilling, but this “Rosie the Riveter” was destined to become a teacher.
Joyce met the love of her life, Gale Oleson, at a dance in Cresbard, South Dakota when she was a teenager. They married December 26, 1947 in Elk Point, South Dakota. Joyce was teaching fourth grade there at the time. She taught 9 students at a country school prior to graduating from Northern State Teacher’s College.
Joyce was a natural teacher as her grandmother, mother, and three sisters were teachers. Her daughters became educators as well. Joyce taught fifth and sixth graders for many years in Elkhorn, Nebraska. Joyce received the Former Educator of the Year award in 2001 from Elkhorn Public Schools. This was an honor she proudly accepted. She loved seeing old colleges at the ceremony as she retired in 1988.
Joyce loved reading aloud to her children on family vacations. She never stopped teaching and frequently read trip books aloud- information about the Civil war or national parks. “Historical” information was a favorite, and she liked to call it “hysterical”. She loved taking her grandchildren to museums and educational and historical sites as well.
Joyce and Gale moved to Omaha, Nebraska in 1954 and raised four daughters there. She spent the last years of her life in Inverness, Florida, having moved from Omaha, Nebraska in 2003.
Joyce is predeceased by her daughters Meg and Dot Oleson. She is survived by her daughter Joy Livingston (George) of Floral City, Florida, and her daughter Beth Bross (Brian) of Omaha, Nebraska, three grandchildren, and seven great grandchildren.