Funeral services for Kathleen Phyllis Olson of Albert Lea will be held 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 19, at Zion Lutheran Church in Albert Lea. The Rev. Robert Bailey will officiate. Internment will be at Hillcrest Cemetery in Albert Lea. Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. on Friday at Bayview/Freeborn Funeral Home in Albert Lea and one hour before the service at the church on Saturday.
Kathy died peacefully at Albert Lea Medical Center on June 14, 2010, due to complications of lung disease. She was 78 years old. 
Kathy was born in Austin on April 7, 1932, the seventh of 10 children to William and Ethel (Cunningham) Arett. She was baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran faith. The family moved from their farm near Oakland to Albert Lea during the Depression, and Kathy attended both country school and Albert Lea schools. 
She met her husband, Donny Olson, when she was 17 and married him seven years later on May 4, 1957. They shared a love of horses and spent many happy years raising horses and participating in horse shows, county fairs and parades in Minnesota and Iowa. They especially enjoyed trail rides in Wykoff. She enjoyed camping, dancing, planting flowers and visiting with her friends and family. She was well known for her lefse and angel food cakes, and took great pleasure in sharing her secret recipe and technique with her daughter and granddaughter, although they never got it quite the same.
Kathy worked at various jobs, including Wilson & Co. in the 1950s and ’60s, and most recently the Moose Lodge of Albert Lea. However, her favorite job was being a mother to her only child, Beth Ann (born in 1962) and her two grandchildren, Leah (21) and Taylor (17). She deeply loved her family and was deeply loved in return. 
Kathy is survived by her daughter, Beth Atz and husband Bruce of Albert Lea; grandchildren: Leah and Taylor Atz; sisters: Jurine Johnson, Marjorie Barber, Mae Reichow, Libby (Darrel) Maternowski and Marlene Brown; brother, Jerry (Karen) Arett; and many nieces and nephews. 
She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Donny in 2005; brothers: Lawrence, William and Kenneth.