Donna Oleson Nylander lives in the Kinton area south of Beaverton. She is the daughter of Oleta and Alden Ole Oleson, born Feb 8, 1916. Oleta and Alden had four children: Larry Alden Oleson (deceased), Donna Rae Oleson Nylander, Robert Wesley Lee Oleson and Johnny Lynn Oleson. Donna and Robin Robinson are cousins sharing the same grandfather John Alden Oleson.

Donna’s grandfather John Alden Oleson (1879-1966) was a farmer in the Garden Home area and from whom we get the name for Alden Road. John Alden Oleson is the oldest child and only son of her great grandparents Ole Oleson (1856-1942) and Polly Philena Patton Oleson (1856-1934).

John Alden Oleson married Elsie Bertha Schalk (1887-1966) and  lived at the southeast corner of Terri Court and Oleson Road during the 1920s to 1940s. They had six children: Alden Louis Oleson, Veola Alda who married John Oregon Robinson, Alden Ole Oleson who married Oleta, Robert Wesley Lee Oleson and Elsie Jean Oleson. The family name of Alden was very important.

Children of John Alden Oleson: Alden Louis 1907, Veola 1913 (mother of Robin Robinson), Alden Ole 1916 (father of Donna), Robert Wesley 1918, Elsie Jean 1920, all born at “Oleson Station.”

The “original” Ole Oleson married Polly Philena Patton and had eight children, (married names added): John Alden, Anna Lovisa Oleson, Edna Eleanor Oregon Oleson Wolf, May Etta Oleson Stark, Olive Philena Oleson, Lillian Maud Oleson Harris Ruhl, Polly Veola Oleson Ames and Thelma Arlene Oleson Dayton.

Interview with Donna Nylander, Dec. 2011 by Elaine Shreve