From Greg Olin: [An article was done in the "Hello Cousin" newsletter on both Rena and Vivian Olin] How appropriate that two sisters, my aunts, and my special friends are remembered together in this family newsletter. That's how I remember them, often together.
I spent so many weekends and summer days with them. They took me to movies, to eat out (John's Place, Nankin, etc.) [in Minneapolis] At Rena's she would play the piano and I would sing; we really enjoyed these times together. Rena paid for a private tutor for me one summer (when I flunked first grade). This help may well have changed my whole life. I also remember so many good times under the tin roof in the rain at Rena's lake cabin.
Vivian lived in the same house with us when I was very young and we shared the same house again when I was in college. I remember attending the Christian Science Church with her and, while I never joined this church, I know that her compassionate nature was directly related to her special faith. Her encouragements in my formative years continue to bless my life even today.
There are so many times I could reminisce about, but let it suffice to say that their love touched my life and I will love them forever for being a blessing in my life.
From Marilyn Olin Finnegan: I remember Vivian did bookkeeping for a government building in Minneapolis. She lived a year or two in Kansas City, Kansas. I remember when I was young going to visit her in Kansas. Vivian had rented a room from Dad and Mom in our house for years and ate with us everyday so she was a very important part of our lives. Vivian was always generous and kind to all of us. For some reason Vivian never married and so we were her family. Whenever I would come back to town for a visit, Vivian would treat me and my family out to eat at a nice restaurant. My most wonderful memory of Vivian was when I was going through a rough time in my life when I divorced my first husband. Vivian took me and my daughter Lori on a fun trip to Brownsville, Texas, and we took a few trips across the border to Mexico and also to explore the beautiful streets of San Antonio, Texas. I had so much fun with Vivian, and it was a wonderful generous thing for her to do. But that is how Vivian was--she was there for any of us that needed her. I think of both Vivian and Rena all the time when I go back to Minneapolis for a visit and it doesn't seem the same without going out to eat and a movie with the two of them.
Rena always picked favorites in each family and I don't know why I was lucky enough to be one of her favorites but I'm sure glad I was. I spent a lot of time with Rena and always treasured the weekends I'd spend at her house. We always went out to fine restaurants and good movies and often she'd also let my best friend, Darlene tag along. I also remember the fun sing-a-longs while Rena played the piano. Rena always bought me the nicest dolls. Finally, but not the least, I will always appreciate the times I went to church with Rena.
From Marlene Larson Slettehaugh: Grandma [Rena] moved to Minneapolis on the day she turned 18. Her father told her she had to stay home until that day and she did. She worked as a maid in a hotel on Hennepin Avenue when my mom [June] was a little girl. Mom recalled eating in restaurants with her teddy bear and playing on the hotel roof to get some outdoor time. She turned somersaults on the block of the court house on her way to school. Grandmother was offered the position of hotel manager which she agreed to do if she could keep her maid's job.
When I was a little girl Grandma paid for me to go to dancing lessons at McPhail's school. I remember watching her sitting at her sewing machine making me a butterfly costume, it was beautiful.
She loved music and playing the piano was part of every day. When someone would sing along it pleased her. She made hotcakes every morning for breakfast, as they did when she was growing up. Did anyone else hear about Ella Jane frying a rag in a hotcake to trick one of the boys?
From Penny Olin Peterson: I have wonderful memories of all of us gathering around Rena's piano and singing songs. She was a good self-taught piano player! Rena's life was in earlier years going up to the cabin which was on Lake McGregor. She never really liked to travel. Her life was going downtown Minneapolis to movies and the Nankin. She did this almost everyday of the week!
From Ellen Olin Frank: I was told that as a teenager Vivian worked as a cashier at the Sunbeam Theater in Duluth. I don't know how much formal education she had, but I was told she took some business courses. The first big word to enter my vocabulary as a child was "com-tom-eter operator." I never was told what that was, but it was very impressive to my five or six-year-old mind, and immediately elevated her in my eyes to someone very special. I do remember the times she would come to visit on her vacation. This was during the depression years of the thirties; and Dad would often say we were "too broke" to buy, to do, or to go. I learned at a very young age not to ask for much of anything. We got by on the bare necessities. But when we knew Aunt Vivian was coming, there would be a burst of excitement; Mom had a flurry of special housecleaning; Dad cleaned the car and did some tinkering on it. On the big day of her arrival, we dressed in our best and went down to the train station to welcome her. When she stepped off the train, she was a beautiful vision--like a movie star. She was lovely, wearing the latest fashion dress like I saw in the movies, with white gloves, white handbag, white shoes, and a stylish hat with flowers and little veil. I was totally in awe of her, until she hugged me and smiled and just laughed in delight; she was so happy to see her family. I was told that worked for the railroad and was sent to cities around the country. Milwaukee, Janesville, Kansas City (which she told us she hated) and later in Washington, D.C. and Minneapolis.
My earliest memory of Aunt vivian, however, was in Milwaukee. I was age five to seven during the Milwaukee years. The family would often gather around Aunt Camilla's player piano and sing for hours, old and new songs, with good voices that could harmonize, especially my Dad and Uncle Vern. Those were most happy times for me. But I wish you could have seen and heard Aunt Vivian! She was a quiet person, but she absolutely came alive around that piano. Her brown eye sparkled as she sang along. She had a lovely voice, and smiled as she sang. Two of her favorites were catchy little tunes in ragtime "Vo-do-ee-oh-do" and "Doodley-Doo." To this very day I think of her when I happen to hear those melodies. She was not a Charleston Flapper at all, but she loved those lively tunes. That's when I really began to know her and love her. But she always went away too soon, back to her job out of town.
Aunt Vivian had deep brown eyes, dark brown chestnut hair, and milky-white complexion, and always slim and trim. My Mom told me she looked exactly like her mother, Ella, who had died in 1923, just two months before I was born. She would have been seventeen then, old enough to seek out on her own career. And what a successful career it was! She advanced to Comptroller, with an excellent salary and lots of vacation time. She traveled extensively to the Holy land, a Mediterranean cruise, West Indies cruises, to Mexico and across the U.S.A. She often traveled with women friends.
I remember aunt Vivian as being a quiet, reserved person, always a lady. Can any one of us remember her ever saying or doing anything immodest? No, if something improper were said or done in her presence, I remember her hand would fly to her cheek or cover her mouth; those deep brown eyes would spark with anger. Although she would not say anything, we knew she was displeased and embarrassed for us.
She was a special lady, in and out of my life, all through the years, giving me a little glamour and excitement during those long depression years.
