Olson family dedicates park to parents and brother

By Josh Hall, Staff Reporter
Last week I spent a couple of minutes with Jean (Olson) Lyons, along with her sister Darlene (Olson) Richardson to learn about the new addition that was added to one of the green spaces in town. After the passing of their parents, Frank Sr and Mary Olson, in May and the passing of their brother last October, the children and grandchildren all got together and try to decide what the best thing they could do to honor their memory was. At first, they thought maybe just a bench, but as they brainstormed over ideas, they come up with a mutual decision…to build a park! And what better place to put it then right next to the home that Frank and Mary lived for 30 years.
The area the park is located at is the green space on the SW part of town, directly across Hwy 42 from Kwik Trip and across the side street from the clinic. The park was mostly unused, aside from a couple things that were there before they built the park. There was only a sad, lonely picnic table under a shelter, a barbecue and a garbage can tied to the post. Now it is a bright, energetic park. The playground equipment they have has so many different things, a child could have hours of fun on it. There is a slide, two regular swings, a infant/toddler swing, a rock climbing wall, a rope ladder, chalkboard, binoculars, a ships wheel and a standing swing/seesaw-type thing (i have no idea what it could be called). Haha
With all the family helping, they thought it would only take a couple of hours..NOPE! They started on June 10th at 9:00am and finished at about 3:00pm. All of the brothers and sisters and their spouses, along with 6 of the 12 grandchildren all helped and worked through the day.
The city of Plainview was so cooperative with the Olson family. They only had a few rules that they needed to follow, like the way the equipment had to be anchored to the ground, the recycled tire for the mulch. “The city was very nice. They got it all ready for us, dug it out, and put in the timbers and the rubber mulch,” said Jean. The family donated $150.00 to the city to help cover some of the expenses they used to help prepare the site for the family.
The next thing they are planning on adding is to plant a tree at some point, but not sure yet.
Darlene enthusiastically, with joy in her heart, told me, “I can’t tell you how nice it was to see this playground full, and it kind of caused us to turn off the highway and come in and look a little closer. So, it really is a good use of space.” There is always kids at the park and they have gotten so many nice comments. There is even a daycare mom who told them that it is really nice to take the kids to this park because she can keep an eye on all the kids together in one place.
Jean and Darlene laughed when they talked about their parents and that they believe that they would have enjoyed it, saying, “Couldn’t you just see mom in the window?” Darlene laughed and said, mockingly in an enduring way, “’Who is that? What are they doing here? Where’d they come from? FRANK!’ Yes, I think they would have enjoyed this a lot.”