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Gene was born in Yakima, Washington to Raymond and Lois Oleson. The family farmed on land leased from the Yakima Indian Nation and he was their first born. Shortly after his birth, his parents moved to the Chehalis / Centralia area of Washington State.

Early Childhood:

Gene spent his childhood in Chehalis. In his own words, he says he was an indifferent student with girls, cars and sports being foremost in his mind at the time. Most people would not suspect it, but Gene had a difficult childhood. His father was an alcoholic and an abuser; Gene was the primary target. Gene ran wild in the small town of Chehalis with his bike and his friends. He found male role models in Christian men like Zebedee Ring Patterson (an 80 year old neighbor) and his pastor Albert Knudsen at Bethel Assembly of God Church, who was also his boy scout leader. Gene gave his life to Jesus as his Lord and Savior in April 1951 at Sunday school. Years later, Gene invited his father to come to church on Easter Sunday, where his father recommitted his life to the Lord.

Military Service:

Without telling his parents, Gene left home on his 18th birthday for Portland. He was sworn into the U.S. Coast Guard on August 5, 1958, the day after his 18th birthday. Having fished in the Pacific both out the Columbia River and from Westport, Gene admired the U. S. Coast Guard. They fished alongside him and when called hurriedly pulled their lines and went off to help the needy. In an hour or two they are back fishing. Gene thought, "This is the way to serve your country." His family had hoped for him to attend a Bible college, however he had no interest in a church vocation.

Gene was offered the choice of schools and chose Electronics Technician school located in Groton, Connecticut. This choice put him on the East Coast for the rest of his Coast Guard career. His first duty station was Norfolk Virginia aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Ingham a 327-foot white cutter in September 1959. He immediately sought out a new church home and chose Glad Tidings Assemblies of God Church in Norfolk.

Glad Tidings Assemblies of God was the home church of the Bryant Family. The Bryant family in 1959 had five daughters Myrna, Pat, Judy, Cindy, and Kathy. An invitation to Sunday dinner is never refused by a lonesome sailor. Gene was not sure who instigated the invitation, but he accepted several free dinners and was most appreciative. After 15 months at this duty station, Gene was sure that Myrna was the one he wanted to marry. "She is about to enter her senior year of high school. He is barely 20. Her father rejoices at getting a commitment for the first daughter."

Gene spent 1960 – 1961 in Korea and Iwo Jima. Before he went overseas, he asked Myrna to marry him. They spent his year overseas, writing frequently and planning to get married upon his return to the U.S.

They married in November 1961. The first duty station as a married couple was Key West Florida in 1962 where his pay was $180.00 per month. Gene made First Class Petty Officer before exiting the Coast Guard. He and Myrna moved back to Norfolk where he went to work at a paint store and hoped to attend college. He joined the Coast Guard Reserve to earn extra money, but he was worried over the medical bills and extra expenses associated with the pending birth of their first child Laurel in December 1962. Myrna was against it, but Gene reenlisted for six active-duty years with the Coast Guard. "She soon regretted it."

1963 – 1964 was spent in solitary duty at Cape Christian and is located on Baffin Island, Canada approximately 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle. "Orders upon leaving Canada were for me to report to the Coast Guard Training Center in Groton, Connecticut for instructor duty in the Basic Electronics school."

During their stay in Groton, Myrna had several serious medical problems. First, the kitchen caught fire when a pan of grease ignited, severely burning Myrna's arms as she carried the pan outside. Second, Myrna collapsed while pregnant with her second child, and in a matter of days became paralyzed. The doctors were stumped and even suggested that Gene should start looking at nursing homes. Later, they determined that Myrna had Gillian-Barre Syndrome which at the time was called "French Polio". " The survival rate for this disease is exceptionally low. The one other case in the hospital at the time did not survive." Myrna's parents came and took Laurel with them. Six weeks later, Myrna gave birth in the ICU to Lynnette. Myrna remained in the hospital while Gene took Lynnette home. Gene's mother Lois came to take care of both girls. "The church folks surrounded us with their love and prayers. Ladies came and sat with Myrna during the days. In a Sunday service in the darkest time, Pastor Stanley spontaneously called on me to come to the platform. He said he was going to pray for Myrna and wanted me to come forward. As I stood up and started down the aisle for the first time in public I spoke in an unknown tongue. Immediately following was an interpretation by Arvin Kartrude, who stood and voiced an interpretation that Myrna would be healed. Six weeks later Myrna was home. Her weight was down to 90 pounds. She needed to regain strength, but she was home."

During this time, Gene had the opportunity to test for Warrant Officer and passed additional Advanced Electronics training. He made Warrant Officer in August 1966.

Call to the ministry:

"The call to ministry that was long in the back of my mind and formally rejected as "unreasonable" began to germinate again. Myrna's healing was a wake-up call for me. Ships without chaplains had designated collateral duty religious lay leaders. There were no chaplains on Coast Guard ships. I fulfilled the role by volunteering to hold a Sunday morning service and a weekly Bible study."

"Researching the requirements for consideration as a Navy chaplain revealed it would take seven years of schooling, two plus years of active solo pastoral experience for ordination, and the official endorsement of a recognized denomination. I planned to start toward the goal of being a military chaplain." "In October 1968 I left the Coast Guard following ten years of active duty and entered the Coast Guard Reserve (Active)."

Gene moved the family to the West Coast where he entered Bethany Bible College, an Assemblies of God accredited school. He worked many jobs, sometimes three jobs at a time to support the family. In 1972, Gene graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree magna cum laude (Pre-seminary Major).

The family then moved to La Crescenta so that Gene could attend Fuller Theological Seminary. Gene worked as the Youth Pastor at La Crescenta Assembly of God and continued in the Coast Guard Reserves. Myrna worked at Jet Propulsion Laboratories full time, while pregnant and carried the family financially. It was 1972 – 1975 and Vietnam was in full swing. The family welcomed baby Jonathan. Gene graduated with a Masters in Divinity and the search for a two year assignment at a church started.

In July 1975, Gene was selected as Pastor to Issaquah Assembly of God in Issaquah Washington. The salary was $300/month, a parsonage, blueberry pies and vegetables from the congregation. In August 1976, the family gained another son, Andrew. During his tenure at the church, Gene applied to the Navy and the Army for chaplaincy positions. The Navy contacted Gene with an opening and "in April 1976, after 18 years' service, the Coast Guard granted me a cross-service transfer to the Navy Reserve. Thus, I went from Chief Warrant Officer 4 (Electronics) to Lieutenant Junior Grade, Chaplain Corps, United States Navy."

Navy Chaplain:

Home Base for the Oleson family became Virginia Beach, Virginia. After assuring Myrna that Chaplain's did not have isolated duty, Gene had to tell Myrna that his first tour of duty would be an unaccompanied tour of duty for one year to Okinawa Japan, leaving her with two teenagers and two preschool boys.

Naval Assignments

Okinawa Japan / Subic Bay Philippines 1977-1978

Portsmouth Naval Regional Medical Center, Portsmouth Virginia 1978-1980

USS Yellowstone (AD-41) 1980 – 1982

New Orleans 1982-1985 Naval Support Activity (NSA)

Twentynine Palms, California. 1985-1988 Detachment Alpha, First Force Service Support Group (Det A, 1st FSSG)

USS Coronado (AGF-11) 1988-1994. Homeport: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Camp H.M. Smith, Aiea, Hawaii Fleet Marine Force, Pacific

- During his assignment to Hawaii, Gene was promoted to Captain.

Lemoore California 1994-1996. Naval Air Station Lemoore

Retirement:

Gene retired effective July 1, 1996 a month before his 56th birthday.

July 1976 – May 2021 HAM radio operator.

- Gene initially became a HAM to speak to his brother who was a missionary in the Marshal Islands.

- Gene had several call signs through the years however, Laurel remembers KB4JI the best as she awoke at 5 am on most Saturday mornings as a teenager by the call " CQ CQ CQ, This is KB4JI calling CQ".

- Gene got very creative with his antennas. One bird house in Virginia Beach was a mile high bird house on the end of a PVC pipe. At his final home, his son-in-law Charlie helped him rig up an antenna that was a wire that ran the perimeter of the backyard fence. Gene was quite happy with the countries he was able to reach.

1996 – 2015 Waterfront Rescue Mission Program.

- Volunteer Mentor through Olive Baptist Church to men who were fighting alcohol and drug addiction and/or ex-convicts

1996 – present Bluejacket.com

- Gene dedicated thousands of hours of his time to create this often visited military history site.

- In the early days of military.com, Gene was hired as a contractor to add history to the site.

1996 – 2009 National Naval Aviation Museum on Naval Air Station Pensacola

- Volunteered as a Tour Guide, Researcher and eventually as a Board Member.

1996 – 2021 Genealogy

- Gene continued the research done started by his mother and Laurel.

- He added thousands of ancestors and expanded internationally.

Gene enjoyed fast cars, NASCAR, college football, classical and bluegrass gospel music, kept a busy schedule until the week of his death. He awoke around 4 am, drank 10 cups of coffee, read several newspapers, looked at his favorite cartoons, worked on puzzles, spent hours working on virtual trains/stations and was taking college classes up until the time of his death.

Gene moved to Cantonment, Florida just outside of Pensacola for his retirement from 1996 to 2019. In 2019 Gene and Myrna moved to Hockley, Texas, just outside of Houston and two houses down from their daughter Laurel.

In 2015, Gene fought and won against cancer, however the radiation treatment that he received developed into CMML Leukemia in 2020. He started chemotherapy for Leukemia in January 2020. He fought hard, but the cure for Leukemia is a bone marrow transplant. His age and existing health problems hindered him and so the treatments were simply to extend his life. In his final month of life, he grew more and more exhausted as his body became too weak to function. His children rallied around him. He told Laurel that he wanted to refuse all treatments and let go. He went into the hospital for the

final time on May 18, 2021 and was gone on May 19. Laurel was with him as he passed peacefully in his sleep into the loving hands of God.

Eugene Olesons' survivors include his wife of 59 years, Myrna Loy Oleson, four children, thirteen grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Eugene is predeceased by his Father Raymond Milton Oleson, Mother Lois Ione Heath Oleson and Brother Larry David Oleson. Children and grandchildren include: daughter Laurel Oleson Bledsoe and son-in-law Charles Bledsoe (Hockley, Texas), grandchildren Elizabeth Woytasczyk, James Pearson, Lacy Young, great-grandchildren Jordan, Joslynn and Joshua Woytasczyk. Daughter Lynnette Oleson Thornton and son-in-law Travis Thornton (Weatherford, Texas), grandchildren K.C. Reese, Eva Reese, Nathan Reese. Son Jonathan Oleson and daughter-in-law Candace Oleson (Seattle, Washington), grandchildren Josie Oleson, Katelynn Oleson, Gabriel Oleson. Son Andrew Oleson (Seattle, Washington), grandchildren Damien Oleson, Caleb Oleson, Chloe Oleson, and Elsie Oleson.

Eugene E. Oleson spent 18 years in the U.S. Coast Guard and 20 years in the U.S. Navy. He will be buried with an Honor Guard in Houston National Cemetery, Houston, Texas.