Winona Burnice Olson

Winona Burnice Starkenburg Olson, 76, from Petersburg, Alaska, and later Washington and Arizona, passed away on July 23, 2015, from a combination of breast and blood cancers.

Winona was born on June 20, 1939 to Melvin Starkenburg and Burnice Patton Starkenburg on Little Gaine Island, Petersburg, Alaska. As an infant, Winona moved to the Seattle area with her parents, brother Glenn, and sisters Shirley and Carol. Winona graduated from Franklin High School in 1957.

Winona worked for numerous employers including Seafirst Bank, The Boeing Company, Sears, and Edmark.

On August 23, 1958, Winona married a fellow Franklin Quaker, Vergil Harris Olson at Mount Baker Park Presbyterian Church in Seattle. In 2003, after spending their married lives in the Puget Sound area of Washington state, Vergil and Winona retired and moved to Sun City West, Arizona. As the local Sun City West version of Liza Minnelli, Winona was a fun and encouraging friend to all. Winona volunteered in the library of a local Arizona elementary school, spent time shopping at thrift stores, chatting with friends on the patio, and spent plenty of time doing her self-proclaimed favorite hobby: cleaning. She was active in her church, Lord of Life Lutheran in Sun City West where she was a volunteer in their library and a loyal potluck organizer. Despite Vergil's love of lutefisk and Winona's disdain of lutefisk, they were married 56 years.

Winona was predeceased by her parents Melvin and Burnice Starkenburg, her sister Shirley Olofson (Donald), her niece Kimberly Starkenburg and nephew George McClaine Jr. Winona is survived by daughters Patricia Raine (Michael) and Karen Pederson (James), grandchildren Tyler Raine (Rachael), Rachel Raine Patrick (Chase), Sophie and Leo Pederson, great grandchildren, Molly and Hazel Patrick and Quentin Raine, sister Carol Bradley (Donald) and brother Glenn Starkebury (Lois) and numerous nieces and nephews.

Services were held at Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Sun City West, Arizona on August 1, 2015. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (lls.org), an organization working to help find a cure for blood cancer, which Winona was passionate about.