Robert "Bob" Olson, Jr.

Robert (Bob) Mortimer Olson, Jr, age 85, left this earthly life at home on Tuesday, August 1, 2023 after a long journey living with severe peripheral neuropathy, which he lived with humor and grace. Born in Lebanon, PA, he was the only child of the late Dr. Robert Olson and Erma Drybread Olson. He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Melissa Maier Tell Olson, daughter, Dee Olson Pierce, stepchildren, Richard House, Amy Norfleet and William Tell III, and 10 grandchildren. He is also survived by his loving caregiver families, Eli, Ladi, their three children, Vivian, Dominic and many others, all who called him Poppa. He graduated high school in Kenly, NC, attended UNC at Chapel Hill, Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, VA, and Boston University. In his varied and servant careers, he was a Hospital Chaplain, Minister (and excellent preacher), Consultant and Marriage & Family Therapist and was characterized as a healer, preacher, teacher and an expander (as one of his clients labeled him, vs “a shrink”!) Bob loved music, played guitar in a jazz band in college, built two houses with the help of friends, and started a business called Self-Sufficiency Systems, or “How to Live off the Grid in Comfort” with passive and active solar, growing, storing and preserving fruits and vegetables, and aquaculture, grew his own grapes and made delicious wine, and was a gourmet cook. He started and developed two private practices over the years in Marriage & Family Therapy, renovating an old home into an office/apartment building. He and Melissa learned how to sail in their early 40's/30’s respectively and twice sold most everything they owned, bought sailboats and cruised the East Coast from the Chesapeake Bay, FL Keys and up the West Coast of FL. He had an inquisitive mind, constantly creating business ideas that would fill gaps in services to others, was a great storyteller and never met a stranger. He touched many lives over the years and will be greatly missed. A Funeral Service will be held at St. James Episcopal Church, 119 N. Duke Street, Lancaster, PA 17602 on Saturday, September 2, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. Friends are welcome to greet the family at 10:00 a.m. until the time of service. Interment will follow in the Churchyard at St. James. In lieu of flowers, please consider a gift to the Johns Hopkins Merkel Center to study the debilitating nerve disorder: peripheral neuropathy at https://giving.jhu.edu/story/merkin-family-foundation-gift-virtual-center/ .