My wife, Mary Ellen Harring Olson ’59 (the college achiever in the family), and I will be celebrating our 48th anniversary in June. We are finally fully retired and enjoying living in the Southwest.

I am an avid gardener with a love and dedication for roses; a collector of recorded music, mostly jazz, dating as far back as 1923; a producer of CDs, CD jewel box art, CD label art, etc. (My collection currently exceeds 23,000 titles); and am a baseball, civil war and World War II history buff and collector. My 56-year fight with polio has now taken away the ability to travel.

My life's work came about purely by chance in that I was in the right place, Phoenix, at the right time (massive growth) and I was handed the opportunity to succeed... and did. What I did learn at Macalester is that success is all about hard work and never giving up despite the odds.

I am retired and living on East Battle Lake in Otter Tail County, Minn. Enjoying my friends, birds and other critters this area provides. The easy pace of life with no traffic jams except when the boys leave the local coffee house make for a wonderful enjoyment of life.

My 35 years of teaching and coaching all began with my excellent classes and experiences gained at Macalester. I still have good friends from Mac who shared this experience with me. Although we don't see each other often, when we do, we go right back to those days and reminisce about all the good times we had.

In 1957, I went to Racine, Wis., to get away from St. Paul and teach for one year. Met ol’ blue eyes the third night there and we married four years later.

Taught in public school for 20 years, then switched to private school for 20 more. In 1984, I applied for the Teacher in Space program and was invited to the launch of the Challenger in October 1985. Retired in 1994, and joined RSVP (Retired Seniors Volunteer Program) to read to elementary classes. In 2001, I started a website of free children's read aloud books, www.auntielulu.com. Now, I Travel between our three homes in Racine, Wisconsin; Longboat Key, Florida; and Falsterbo, Sweden, spending about four months in each place. Still reading to schools in each place and keep adding to the list of good books, I also took a course in ventriloquism and Doogie Dog and I make kids laugh. Love to play golf, cook, bake and “aquacise” wherever we are.

My degree was in Religious Education — what I mostly wanted to do was study the Bible! If God was "for real," I really needed to discover Him in a personal way. It really began during Religion in Life week when I literally took a "leap of faith." It has continued throughout my life as a wife and mother and with part-time jobs in Y L, church, many Bible studies and living each day.

I was part-time owner in a Tea Room and enjoy knitting, birding, tennis and life. Our son lost his life at age 17 and our son-in-law at age 33, so our daughter has had much grief to bear but is finding joy in everyday living. I've enjoyed being a member of many civic organizations and spending many years of volunteering. We have traveled to many (underline many) countries and enjoyed them all. Especially Italy — meeting many wonderful people and keeping in touch.

I have always believed my "Mac" years helped me get in touch with the real me.  Through Professors Arnie Holtz, Armanjani, Hill, Adams and others I gained good knowledge and understanding.  I always appreciated how Mac reaches out to international students and having an integrated campus. I'm glad chapel was required.

My father was disappointed that after spending "all that money" on my education I never went into the "field" but I've always felt it made me a better, stronger person and that is what education was about for me.