- Date Of Birth: September 9, 1923
- Date Of Death: August 2, 2018
- State: Arizona
Miriam Olsen, previously of Scottsdale, died peacefully in Eugene, Oregon on August 2. She was one
month shy of her 95th birthday.
The daughter of Finish immigrants, Miriam grew up in Painesville, Ohio during the Great Depression.
She graduated as a Registered Nurse, from Lutheran Hospital School of Nursing in Cleveland, in 1944.
Miriam served in the Army Nursing Corps during WWII, and she met her husband of 59 years, James
K. Olsen, while serving. She earned her BS in Nursing Education in 1949, from Loyola University in
Chicago. Miriam also completed graduate work at Case Western Reserve University in Medical and
Surgical Nursing.
She worked as a nursing educator, health educator and consultant. Miriam was the founding
coordinator of the Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio School of Practical Nursing in the 1960’s. She started the
Health Education Program at Illinois State University in 1968, and was Adjunct Professor of Nursing
Education at Rutgars University in New Jersey in the early 1970’s. Miriam worked as a health educator
at Kent State University, Ohio University and Illinois State University from the early 1960’s through
the early 1980’s, and then as a volunteer in the Scottsdale School District after moving to Arizona in
1985. She moved to Eugene, OR in 2005.
Miriam was devoted to her family, and considered her most important jobs to be wife, mother and
grandmother. She was preceded in death by her brother Aser Nurmi, husband James, son Karge, and
grandson Dane Ballard. Miriam is survived by her brother Alan Nurmi of Michigan, her daughter Karin
Olsen of Eugene, OR, and her son Dr. Erik Olsen of Seattle, WA. She leaves 4 grandchildren, Kristin
Lewis, Karge Olsen, Meggan Gomez and Rekha Olsen. She is also survived by 5 great-grandchildren,
and step-daughter Damaris Olsen.
School, Scottsdale, from 6:00-9:00 pm, August 16.
Association, Alzheimer’s Research Foundation, or the National Hospice Foundation.
