Scott Frank Olsen

Heaven received a great man on July 5, 2020, when Scott F. Olsen went to be with Jesus, one day shy of his 94^th birthday.  He was the beloved husband of Ruth (née Schloemer) for almost 70 years; loving father of Heidi (Scott) Koval, Robin (Simon) Chan, Kimber (Kraig) Brady, Cory (Patrick) Kohl, and Brandt (Jennifer) Olsen; grandfather to Josh (Marissa) Koval, Robin (John) Robertson, Erika (Nick) Crawley, Peter (Diane) Chan, Aaron (Lily) Chan, Brianna (Colin) Winslow, Jared Brady, Camille Brady, Luke (Julianna) Brady, Isaac Brady, Jamie (Ryan) Del Balso, Marcy (Scott) Farkas, Caleb Olsen, Nathan Olsen and Emily Olsen; and a great-grandfather to Kylie, Annika, Matthew, Bradley, Tyler, Audrey, Charlotte, Julia, Brooke, Aiden, Summer, Zoe, Fiona, Theo, Josephine, Wyn, Selah, Mae, Aviella, Caelen, Adler, Liviya, Ryleigh, and Raegan.  At Heaven’s gates, Scott was surely greeted by his father Harold, mother Winnie, and brother Donald.

Scott was immensely proud to be a WWII Navy veteran who served on the USS Los Angeles from 1944 through 1946.  After serving, he received a bachelor’s degree from Carthage College, where he met his beautiful wife.  A buddy asked Scott to drive his girlfriend Ruth home for the weekend, and the rest is history. She soon became Scott’s girlfriend. They wed on September 23, 1950.

Scott loved to fish and took not only his children but also many of his grandchildren out fishing. His favorite fishing spots were on the Fox River and on Gulliver Lake in the U.P.  At one time, he held the record for the largest brown trout caught on the Fox.  Each summer for many decades, the family—starting with two generations and growing to four—vacationed in the U.P. at a rustic resort called Old Deerfield. To our family, it was the best place on Earth. The memories made there will be treasured forever in our hearts.

Everyone who knew Scott knew he loved to tell stories, and in his later years, we heard the same stories more than a few times. His favorite story of all was of the day in 1961 when he, a heating company representative, heated the sidelines for an NFL Packers-Giants game.  He then went on to get his name in the Pro Football Hall of Fame for what he had done—his claim to fame! Jovial and jocular, he not only loved to tell stories but also to joke around with everyone he met, and he could take a joke like no one else.

Tennis was also an important part of Scott’s life from high school all the way into his early 80’s.  While in his 60’s, he and his doubles partner ranked #1 in the state of WI—another climactic moment in his life.  When he could no longer play tennis he took up golf, which he was able to play and enjoy for many more years.

Scott was a very successful manufacturers’ rep. for numerous companies, selling mostly space heaters as well as products like wood-burning stoves, gas grills, and fans. Eventually, he started his own business, Scott F. Olsen Inc. Scott was a hard-working man and provided well for the family that he loved dearly.

We would like to extend a special thank-you to VITAS Hospice and the loving, caring staff from The Arboretum who came in one-by-one to say goodbye to the man who made them smile and laugh every day.

We all love you, Dad, and thank you for being the best husband, dad, and grandpa a family could ever ask for.  We will miss your stories, your laugh, and the many songs you loved to sing. Most of all, we will just miss you.

Click this link to view the live service at the Brookfield Christian Reformed Church Facebook Page

Dear Friends and Family Members of Scott Olsen,

Since many of you will be unable to attend Scott’s funeral on Monday, July 13, we would like to offer you the opportunity to stream it on the Brookfield Christian Reformed Church Facebook page instead. Both those who have a Facebook account and those who don’t will be able to access the Livestream. Here are the instructions for how to join us for the service:

1) If you have a Facebook account, log in, and search “Brookfield Christian Reformed Church” in the search bar at the top of the page. The top result will be our church’s page. Go ahead and click on it.

2) If you don’t have a Facebook account, simply Google “Brookfield Christian Reformed Church Facebook.” Again, the top result will be our church’s page. Click it, and it will take you to the page.

3) Alternatively, regardless of whether you have an account or not, you can use this link to access the page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Religious-Organization/Brookfield-Christian-Reformed-Church-159912337451016/

4) Once you’re on the page on Monday, scroll down to find the Livestream. Once we start the stream, it will be just past the “Recommendations and Reviews” and “Upcoming Events” fields in the middle of the page (NOTE: If you don’t have an account, a field will pop up that says, “See More of Brookfield Christian Reformed Church on Facebook,” and it will prompt you to login or create an account. You can do that if you want, but you can also click “Not Now” at the bottom, and it will go away. Then you can keep scrolling down to the Livestream).

5) We will start the stream a decent amount of time before the service begins at 12:00 p.m. CST. If you get to the page before we start it, simply try refreshing the page until you see the stream. The stream will not automatically appear if you’re on the page before it starts. Simply refresh the page every half-minute or so and follow the above instructions until you find it.

6) Once the stream begins, click the speaker icon on the right-hand side of the video to bring the sound up. You can also click the diagonal arrows (pointing upward and to the right and downward and to the left) to enlarge the video. If you click them again, it will bring the video into fullscreen on your device.

7) The stream should continue uninterrupted for as long as we’re running it, but you might experience occasional buffering (pauses where it’s “thinking”). This should only last a few seconds (5-10 at most). If this happens, you can simply wait it out, and the stream should start again when it connects again. You might miss a few seconds, but it shouldn’t be much.

Alternatively, you can also simply pause the stream in the lower left-hand corner. Wait a minute or two, and then click play again. You’ll be a minute or two behind the “live” stream, but the rest of it should play uninterrupted like a regular video.

Finally, if nothing works, you can reload the page and pick back up where you left off.

8) After the service is over, we will end the stream, and Facebook will archive a saved recording of the service. We will make that recording available to the family for further distribution.

We look forward to celebrating Scott’s life and worshipping God together next week. While streaming a funeral like this isn’t what we’re used to, hopefully, it will provide us with some semblance of each other’s presence during this difficult time and, most importantly, God’s.