Michael D. Olson

Michael D. Olson, 78, a farmer of McPherson, died Sunday, Aug. 31, at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita from complications of gall bladder surgery. He also was a decorated Vietnam War veteran. His parents, Jimmie Marie and LaVerne Olson, moved to the farm when he was six months old. Michael and his father farmed together until LaVerne Olson died in 1987; Michael continued farming there until his untimely recent death. For many years he also held jobs in McPherson as a general manager, an assistant controller, accounts payable supervisor, a cost analyst and a financial planner. After he got off work from his “town” job, he returned to the farm and spent several more hours each night working late. And at times, he worked late at both jobs. But it wasn’t all work to him. He often said farming wasn’t work; it was a lifestyle, a lifestyle that he loved his entire life. In addition to being grain farmers, the Olsons raised cattle, pigs and, milked Holstein cows for 29 years. Michael enjoyed giving the 14 barn cats a squirt of milk from a cow when a cat stood on its back legs for a treat. He was even known to jump in the cows’ water tank when the heat reached over 100 degrees and compete with them for a cooldown. He attended Centerview School for grades 1-8 and then McPherson High School. He graduated from Wichita State University with a bachelor’s degree in business and where he also completed ROTC (reserve officers’ training corps). He received his military commission as a second lieutenant in the Signal Corps of the U.S. Army. He served one year in the U.S. and then a year in South Vietnam as an artillery communications officer with duties as a staff officer and platoon leader. He was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant and received the Bronze Star medal on July 9, 1970. Upon his return to Kansas, he earned a master’s degree in Business Administration from Fort Hays State University. Michael primarily was a grain farmer for much of his life, raising wheat, milo and soybeans. He was a small farmer in terms of total acreage using older farm equipment that he kept repairing year after year to avoid the high prices of new machinery and even cars. In fact, he has a well-running 2001 Buick sedan with 394,000 miles looking for a new home. He had hoped to keep farming into his mid-to-late 80s, which he said is not unusual in McPherson County. But his dream was cut short when he was diagnosed with a form a myositis, a muscle degeneration disease, and then his gall bladder surgery and complications that followed. Michael enjoyed friendships with many other farmers and their families, plus he loved animals, specifically cats and dogs. He helped his sister Carolyn with her project rescuing stray and homeless animals; he even adopted a cat she could not tame and two dogs she helped pull from a euthanasia list. The dogs became his loyal companions as did the cat. Mike is survived by his sister Carolyn Olson and her husband Charlie Buchholz of Innsbrook, MO. The funeral will be Wednesday, Sept. 10, at the First Presbyterian Church, 1400 North Main Street in McPherson; visitation at the church at 10 a.m., the funeral at 11 a.m. and a lunch at the church immediately following the service. Burial will be held at 1:00 p.m. in the McPherson Cemetery. Memorials to the Cat House McPherson shelter, the American Diabetes Association or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in care of Glidden-Ediger-Wiggins funeral home, 222 West Euclid Street, McPherson, KS 67460.

Michael D. Olson

November 6, 1946 - August 31, 2025