Many trucks line up near St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Minot for the procession following Ole Olson’s funeral Tuesday. Olson operated Ole Olson’s Towing and Recovery Service.
A truly remarkable procession followed the funeral for Gerald “Ole” Olson of Minot on Tuesday. Ole Olson’s towing and recovery service was a fixture in Minot, as was Olson himself, who was born and raised in the Magic City.
Olson’s son, Wyatt Olson, organized the parade and called on people across the state to gather as many recovery vehicles, tow trucks and oil rigs as possible for the parade.
“That’s what Ole would have wanted,” said Russell Gleave, an employee of Borsheim Crane Service in Minot who has worked with Ole Olson over the years.
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in northwest Minot offered its parking lot for the numerous trucks to line up there while the funeral took place at Christ Lutheran Church a few blocks away. The parking lot quickly filled up and the trucks lined up in the street on the west side of St. Mark’s, a symbol of the many connections Ole Olson made in life.
Instead of being loaded into a regular hearse, Olson’s casket was transported to Rosehill Memorial Park in the back of one of Olson’s own tow trucks, driven by his son.
Ole Olson’s casket was transported to the cemetery not in a hearse, but on the back of a flatbed truck belonging to Ole Olson’s Towing and Recovery Services.
An estimated 150 to 200 trucks rode in the procession line, some honking and flashing their lights. The Minot Fire Department station on Fourth Avenue Northwest extended one of its fire truck cranes to proudly display the American flag as the procession passed.
The procession was reminiscent of a parade and honored Olson’s life and legacy, as well as his hard work and dedication to the community, state and beyond.
“There are tow trucks from Manitoba, Grand Forks, Fargo, Bismarck,” Gleave said of the “Tow truck family” who came to pay their last respects to Olson and his family.
Ryan McNally, also of Borsheim Crane Service, had known Olson for about 13 years and had done various jobs with him.
“He is one of the most famous faces in Minot,” McNally said: “A lot of people know him.
Audin Rhodes/MDN A funeral procession following Ole Olson’s funeral Tuesday in Minot featured hundreds of vehicles, including tow trucks, recovery vehicles, semi-trailers and more in honor of Olson’s towing company.
“When you think of Ole, you think of someone who owns a towing and recovery company, but you see that his sphere of influence went far beyond that. He had connections across the state and into Canada and Montana.” said McNally.
“He was an important part of the community for many years,” said Nancy Mickelson, a friend of Wyatt Olson’s wife, Ann. Mickelson took photos of the procession for the family.
Audin Rhodes/MDN A funeral procession following Ole Olson’s funeral Tuesday in Minot featured hundreds of vehicles, including tow trucks, recovery vehicles, semi-trailers and more in honor of Olson’s towing company.
Audin Rhodes/MDN This is one of the trucks from Ole Olson’s Towing and Recovery Service. More than ten of Olson’s trucks were among the hundreds of vehicles in the funeral procession following Olson’s funeral on Tuesday.
