I was blessed to marry into Grandpa's wonderful family. From the minute we met, he ALWAYS made me feel welcome and treated me as one of his own.
There are no words to express my gratitude to Grandpa for being such an amazing mentor and role model to Jason. I have no doubt he has helped Jason become the wonderful dad & husband he is today. His legend of integrity, honor, intellegiance, faith and love will forever carry onto his children and grandkids and I deeply thank you for that.
I know you have made me a better person by your example. I love that I see alot of you in my husband and now in my son. We have truly been touched by an angel.
We love you very much and you are deeply missed.
Much Love,
Jason, Teresa & Connor
 

Growing up the Boyle - Olson familys were one in the same. Our family trees always had a branch attached.  It was the best childhood!  We camped together, vacationed together, hiked together, went to school together and got in trouble together.  I sit here now and can see Mr. O perfectly either walking down the beach with every seagull feather he could find (or we could find for him) stuck in his blue hat or in my parents front room, Mr. O and my Dad asleep in chairs and Mom and Mrs O oblivious and still talking and laughing.  So much so they would forget Doug and I were waiting for them to pick us up..Oops that's another story.  They all had the best time together and taught all of us to be good people and enjoy life. Lucky us. Now to add to Sue's Volvo story.....Doug and I had quite a bit of fun together as many of you know, so I had bought a Volkswagon fastback when I was (almost) 16, Dad and Mr. O were not happy and yes the car broke down constantly and the owners manual was in German.  So after Doug and I wrecked that car, Mr. O said get a Volvo, at least you both will live through it.  So to this day I am still driving a Volvo. Thanks Mr. O for all the wonderful memories and being such a loving person.  Love you so much.  

My dad loved Volvos.  When my two oldest brothers Len & Tom turned 16 they each got a Volvo.  Len sold his and bought a Volkswagon bus.  Which back in his days were in style along with colorful bell bottom pants and beads.  Which did that bother my dad?  Yes, on getting rid of the Volvo but not the bell bottom pants.  In fact my dad helped with my brother's band.  My dad even stapled egg cartons to the ceiling in the basement to absorb some of the noise or help with the accustics or whatever.  So hippie looking clothes and beads were just a phase of one of the kids. But the Volvo?..... Then came Tom, second son.  He got a Volvo.  What did he do?  Sold it.  What did he buy?  A Volkswagon bug.  Back in the day it was cool to have the engine show. So it wasn't one of beauty.  One of the nice things about that car.....can't think of one.  We did have some fun in it but otherwise.....  I used to have to get John our neighbor to help push start the car almost every morning when Tom would drop me off at school at St. Leo's.  So when it came to me, the 3rd child it was strike 3 I am out of getting a Volvo.  Thanks Len & Tom!  My dad said I had to buy my own car and it was going to be newer so he didn't have to work on it.  Well one day, I got a call at work from my dad (I worked a regular job and went to school).  He found me a car.  I thought cool!  It was better than driving a 9 passenger station wagon or borrowing my dad's Mazda.  What was it?  It had to be a newer car - right?.  It was a 1961 Volvo -  the kind that looked like an oversize VW bug. What happened to having to be a newer car?  But it was only $500.  SOLD!  I trusted my dad and he always stood behind his belief in Volvo's.  It was a fun car.  Of course I went to him when I told him my car was sick. I was working in Federal Way. It would go slow going up the hill by the weigh station and it would pop out of 3rd gear at times. So I got the small talk of how it wasn't a speedster car but I needed a better description to him other than my car was 'sick".  My dad was a great mechanic so of course he fixed my problems. Back then we had phone booths.  He always told me to make sure I always had a quarter in case I ever broke down.  You could always rely on my dad to come and save you. That Volvo brought me a lot of fun in high school.  My brother next down to me (Steve) bought it from me.  So Volvo's stayed in the family for awhile.  Although now that I think about it, I don't know if my dad ever bought another one after Tom.  Hmmmm....

As a child you would not realize how precious the memories would be later on in life for the little things that you thought were ridiculous rules.  My dad was always prompt at leaving the same time for work every morning leaving with kissing my mom good bye. When he arrived home just about the exact time every evening he would greet my mom with a kiss just like clock work.  Only after this loving act of love happened would my mom then tell my dad one of us was up in our room waiting for one of my dad's famous talks because we had done something wrong beyond my mom's so to say punishments. If we got to this point, she would send us to our room until our dad got home.  In the back of your head you just wanted to say please just spank me and spare me the talk.  Though his talks were long, you would learn a lesson from them.  Depends of course what you were in trouble for depended upon the talk.  But again at times you would still wanted just be spanked.  Then we would all eat dinner together.  I was always a fast eater and wanted to be excused from the table.  The answer 9.9 out of 10 times the answer was no.  I was to enjoy the family until everyone was done eating.  Ugh!  My mom would always make dessert for dinner.  If it was cake, we had to clean our plates well enough so we could flip our plate over and have our cake served on the bottom of the plate.  And then when you were done with your dessert you could be excused. But there were the times when someone did not like something mom made but that was just tough luck.  There were other alternatives for that person so the rest could have our dessert.  My dad and mom never argued the point of someone not finishing their dinner. There were no surprises. You knew the consequence if you did not finish your dinner.  Saturdays dad would make his pancakes.  Not just any round pancakes.  He had an oversize flat cast iron pan.  One that he would make figures out of pancakes.  Maybe he didn't know how to make round ones. I don't know but it was always fun to see what he made. I miss those family dinners when I had to "suffer" until everyone was done eating.  I long for those "talks" whether it was for doing something wrong or telling me stories from when he grew up. I did not hear the word no very often.  I got my home made stilts or my huge cage for my guinea pigs that stayed in the basement.  Just don't ask about having a cat. That came later when dad must have had a weak moment about getting a cat or someone forgot to ask him. He was always good at building things - not only things but between my mom and dad they built an empire of a house full of love and laughter. If you could do it all over again, I would not want you to change a thing. I love you dad!