Kae B. Olson

Kae B. Olson (nee, Macfadden), age 79, of Manhattan passed on December 3, 2017, while a resident of Autumn Hills Memory Care Home in Manhattan. She was a longtime schoolteacher in Manhattan.

Kae was born September 13, 1938, in Palo Alto, California, where she attended school until age 8 when her family moved to a home on the outskirts of Sacramento, California, so that they could keep a few farm animals. She was an active teenager-Honored Queen of Job's Daughters, cheerleader, model state legislator and homecoming royalty at El Camino High School in Sacramento, and a participant in show jumping on English saddle with her horse.

She attended the University of California at Santa Barbara, where she attempted to become a geology major, but was not allowed to do so because she was female. She shifted her major to education, to the eventual benefit of many hundreds of young students in Manhattan.

Kae married Ed Olson, June 26, 1964, in Santa Cruz, California, surrounded by trees and close to the ocean. The outdoors remained dear to her throughout her life. She was an avid hiker, camper and beachcomber from California to Washington State, and after moving to Kansas, enjoyed numerous excursions into the Rockies.

Kae taught elementary school in Sacramento and Davis, California, where she met her husband. She later taught in Washington State before moving to Manhattan, Kansas, in 1969 when her husband took a position at Kansas State University. Kae earned a Master's Degree in education at Kansas State, and wrote a thesis on the connections within the brain between learning mathematics and reading.

After staying home with her children until they started school, Kae resumed teaching at Roosevelt, Ogden and Lee Elementary Schools, in a number of positions-special reading teacher, special math teacher, outreach to parents and classroom teacher in kindergarten and first grades. She loved her students and they, her. She was a classroom volunteer after retiring in 1999.

While in college she took time for dance classes, and was a wonderful dancer throughout her life. She enjoyed visiting her family, traveling in the U.S. and Europe, and was partial to New Zealand.

Kae was a loving and lively wife, mother and friend, and her absence leaves a hole in the lives of her family and many friends. She is survived by her husband, Ed; children Erik, Adrienne, and Kevin (spouse Becky); her sister, Patricia Cassedy and her extended family; her husband's brother Warren and sister Carol and her extended family.

Kae was a member of Saint Paul's Episcopal Church, where she had been on the alter guild. Memorial Services will be held at Saint Paul's, 601 Poyntz Avenue, Manhattan, KS, at 2:00 pm on Thursday, December 7, 2017.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions are suggested for Manhattan-Ogden Public Schools Foundation (P.O Box 191, Manhattan, KS 66505), University Kansas Institute for Neurological Discoveries (indkc.org), Good Shepherd Hospice House or Manhattan Art Center.



***Dove Cremation & Funeral Service, of Junction City, is handling arrangements. To leave a special message for the family, please click on the "Share Memories" button above.***