SEKIU — Arlen Olson, former operator of the namesake resort that served sports fishers for almost eight decades, died early Wednesday morning.
His death at 81 came shortly after he finalized the sale of Olson’s Resort to an Idaho couple who promised to continue running it as a family operation.
Olson died of congestive heart failure, according to his family. He had been hospitalized at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle at Christmas but asked to come home.
“All the family was here,” said Julie Olson Dawley, his daughter. “That’s the way he wanted it.”
His remains will be cremated and his ashes scattered from the Sekiu breakwater, she said.
Family members said they were considering a celebration-of-life service with details to be announced.
Survivors include Arlen’s widow, Donnalyn; son Scott Olson; daughters Valerie Olson and Dawley; four grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
All the Olsons’ children grew up at the resort at 444 Front St., Sekiu, which Olson took over in 1970 after the death of his father, Alvin, who had opened it in 1936.
Over the decades, its trade waned with the runs of fish and the limits on catching them. Nearby resorts shut down.
For a while, Clallam County hoped to buy it as a park for around $2 million, about half of which would have come from a state matching grant. The deal fell through.
The Olsons persevered until Mason Family Properties LLC of Idaho bought it in late October.
According to Clallam County Auditor’s Office documents, the land sold for $1.7 million.
“He waited until the bitter to end to sell it,” Dawley said, and did so only with the Masons’ promise to run it from the premises.
Olson did more than look after the resort’s accommodations, boat launch and moorage, grocery store, gift shop, bait store and cold storage for fish.
“He night-watched the whole town and made sure nothing went wrong,” Dawley said.
Olson also looked after Sekiu’s little airport, retiring in February 2011 as its paid overseer.
Olson, a pilot, had pushed for the airport to be opened in the 1960s and had overseen its maintenance and operations since 2001.
John Calhoun, Port of Port Angeles commissioner, said he valued both Olson’s input as well as the importance of the airport.
“The port commission has supported it through the years, and we felt like we could because Arlen Olson has been such a contributor.”
Through it all, Olson remained “really, really peaceful and calm and good,” Dawley said.
“He was a hardworking, awesome man. He just did so much. I’m very proud of him.”
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Reporter James Casey can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jcasey@peninsuladailynews.com.
