Obituary
Donald K. Olson
Donald K. Olson, the much-loved former Physics and Math teacher of La Crosse Central High School and Western (Wisconsin) Technical College, passed away peacefully on December 30, 2025 at the age of 82.
He died as a result of rapidly progressing Parkinson’s Disease linked to exposure to Agent Orange during his military service on the Destroyer Edson in the Tonkin Gulf in 1965.
Don was born December 9, 1943 on a cold wintry night in his family’s farmhouse. The doctor said if he lived until morning, he would be all right. He graduated from Amery High School with an emphasis on sports (wrestling, football, and track), and a day after graduation he embarked to San Diego, CA for Naval basic training. Don was very proud of his military service. After completing Electronic Technical School, he was stationed for 13 months off the coast of Viet Nam and was responsible for maintaining communication equipment. After his discharge in 1966, he moved to River Falls, WI, where he put his GI Bill to good use and earned his Master’s degree in Physics and Applied Mathematics.
While in college, he met and married the love of his life, Kathy Lindner, his Chemistry lab partner. Their daughter, Erika, was born in 1978. Don was a very proud father, and he and Kathy instilled the importance of service in Erika. Over the years, he championed his daughter through Peace Corps in Burkina Faso, Medical School and Infectious Disease Fellowship, volunteering with Doctors Without Borders in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and serving the Navajo and Hopi Nations through her work with the Indian Health Service.
Don taught at Central High School for 25 years and at WTC for 15 years influencing numerous students along the way through his engaging, entertaining, and often irreverent teaching style. Don is preceded in death by his wife of 45 years, Kathy (2014), who was also a WTC educator, and his daughter, Dr. Erika L. Olson (2025), who was a Hospitalist and Infectious Disease physician. He is survived by two of his five siblings Melvin and Muriel, who live in the Minneapolis area.
Prior to his daughter’s passing, Don and Erika set in motion a Charitable Foundation. The Dr. Erika Olson Charitable Foundation has been established to contribute to various causes encompassing adult literacy, social justice, and women’s reproductive options treatment/counseling and La Crosse area conservation efforts. His final wish was to donate his body to the University of Wisconsin Medical School to educate future students. Before her death his daughter teased him that that would be the only way he would get into medical school. Regardless, he left his mark on countless students and colleagues in La Crosse throughout the decades. Before his death, Don requested that there be no memorial service.
Instead please consider sending a contribution via check to Poehling Capital Management, Inc, C/O Thomas Poehling, 525 Junction Rd, Suite 8900, Madison, WI 53717 made out to Dr. Erika L. Olson Charitable Foundation. Local friends who want to remember Don are invited to The Bluffside at 7:00 PM on January 28, 2026.
A great guy! Never a dull moment with Don around. He left us too early!
Don was a dedicated and creative physics teacher at CHS. He would often times show me or ask me how mathematics applied to his presentations! Unquestionably an outstanding staff member!!
Don was my Physics Teacher the first year he was in at Central. He is one of the reasons I became a Physics/ Science instructor. His style was instilled in my teaching techniques along with a few other great teachers. Don would take me sailing, and we would play Tennis and golf. Our conversations were always interesting, and down to Earth. We had a few classes together at the University, and always tried to relate what was being taught to our High School classes. But, most of the time we taught what was relevant and what the students needed to know.
Don Olson Thank you for being in my life…Like he used to say ” Heck of a deal”
One of my all time favorite teachers at Central High School. He will be remembered fondly by so many of his students!
After 14 years with Parkinson’s symptoms and eleven years of research and pursuing natural treatments and therapies, I thought I had exhausted all options for a recovery. Especially as things hadn’t been going so well over the previous couple of years. Then, just as I was asking the Universe for help, last July, I tried the PD-5 protocol—the best decision ever!. Boy, am I glad I did! Over 90 days, My tremors eased, my energy returned, and I slept soundly. I feel like a new woman, and I can walk and exercise again. I got the PD-5 from limitless healthcenter. c om
Forever in my heart, Mr. O💜
I never really “got” physics, but you believed in me. Thank you for taking the time to care.
Your heart and humor were infectious. I’ll never forget our Friday night ski parties at Mr. Kartman’s, our study sessions with Erika, and our philosophical convos!
I’m better because I knew you.
Your student and friend, Kepper, Kep 😀
One spring day in 1988, Mr. Olson said, “Brian, if you can get through the morning without hurting yourself brushing your teeth, you will get a C or better on the test tomorrow.” The next morning, the tootbrush slipped and smashed into my lip, and my lip swelled up. I did not get a C. It was a letter grade lower than that. Mr. Olson joined me later that day in sympathetic laughter and helped me to build an experiment to use the alternating current of the electrical outlet (60 cycles per second, if I recall) and a ticker tape machine to calculate negative acceleration of a projectile moving skyward as it battled gravitational forces. This was personalized learning to help move my grade in the right direction. It also built a big part of my resilience in life. He cared for my education as a warm and wonderful tutor. Mr. Olson was an outstanding teacher, and he had more influence on me than my grade in Physics may have told him. He was compassionate and on the cutting edge of differentiation of instruction and leading with humor. He held my class to great accountability, but he also gave us the relief and humanity of loving care that builds family around a high level topic. I should mention that he also introduced us to superconductors and we did a magnet levitation in his classroom! Now, as a 25th Year Biology teacher, I still have the high school Physics book that I “lost”. He told me I couldn’t buy it, but I could lose it and pay the fine. I “lost” that book at home, because I knew I had unfinished business with it. That book, and fond memories of Don Olson, now live on in my own classroom. I show that book to my students every year, telling them to value their notes, to bring each year of learning forward, and I tell them about the great teacher I had, how I used his high school lessons, notes, and book to survive my college physics. I even tell my students of the ridiculous game we all played (Nose goes), that we thought we were pulling the wool over his eyes, but I am sure he knew all along. When he went to write something on the board, he would pause, place his finger on his nose, and turn to write. Then, all hands to faces, trying not to giggle, we put our fingers to our noses. The last student to secretly get a finger to the nose had to have a silly question loaded up before Mr. Olson could turn back around. He would turn to see a student with hand in the air, and would receive a most outlandish question. He had real grit, and he kept the lesson moving. But his humor was unwavering. Honestly, I learned of his passing today as I looked him up to see if I could reach out to tell him Thank You. It grieves my heart to know he has passed without hearing my gratitude, but I hope others will read this and enjoy what Mr. Olson did to inspire my own education and pursuit of teaching. I carry his humor and humanity with me in all I do as a teaching professional. Thank You Mr. Olson, for being a great human being and a great teacher! Sincerest Thanks, Brian Collins, Central Class of ’88, Unity High School Biology Teacher and 2024 Wisconsin Teacher of the Year.