Sarah Ann Olson

   Sarah Ann Greif Olson, 82, went to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Saturday, March 8, 2025, at her home in Payette, Idaho.  Sarah was born on July 8, 1942, in Payette, to Irvin Charles and Alma May Matthews Greif, the fourth of twelve children.  She spent her childhood playing baseball with her older brothers and helping to care for her eight younger siblings.  Sarah graduated from Payette High School in 1960 and was going to work at her father’s business, Greif’s Music Center, for a year before going to college, but fate intervened, and during that year she met a dashing young band director named Donald Dean Olson, and they married the following summer, on July 21, 1961.  Don was the love of her life.

   Sarah and Don lived in Payette while welcoming their four children-Ann, Kathy, Ben, and Roger-and then moved to Fruitland where they raised their family.  She faithfully attended every sporting event, school concert, and activity her children and grandchildren participated in, with the ever-present green snack bag at arm’s reach.  Sarah’s golfing skills were the envy of all, and she participated in several tournaments, even winning a few.  She was involved in her local church as a worship leader and Sunday School teacher and participated in Christian Women’s Club and Bible Study Fellowship. She lived out her faith in God in a powerful way, and shared that faith with everyone she met, even the doctors and nurses during her final hospital stay.  Her extended family was always very important to her, and she made sure to stay in touch with as many of them as possible, even in her later years as her eyesight was failing.

   Sarah is survived by her husband of 63 years, Donald; daughters Ann (Tim) Corey of Meridian, and Kathy (Bill) Meier of Boise; sons Ben (Shannon) Olson of Cardiff, California, and Roger (Jana) Olson of Boise; eleven grandchildren, and eighteen great-grandchildren. 

   Sarah’s family wishes to thank St. Luke’s Hospice, Home Helpers, and Shaffer-Jensen Memory Chapel for excellent, compassionate care.