Beverly Jean (Beazer) Olsen

Beverly Jean (Beazer) Olsen peacefully passed away February 27, 2024, at the age of 96, in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Bev was born May 19, 1927, in Idaho Falls, the first of her siblings to be born in the LDS Hospital and not on the Beazer family farm in Lorenzo. She was the last of the Beazer children born to Irving Beazer and Phoebe Scholes (Wendell, Richard, Merle, Gaylen, Beth, and Albert).

In 1947, she married Dee Olsen. Together, they had two children: Jim (1948) and Bob (1954).

Bev was a tenacious and indefatigable woman. As soon as she settled into her new home with Dee on Wadsworth Street, she was determined to have a basement. Newly married with an eye on frugality, she started the job in the mornings before work, digging into the cellar and hauling dirt away herself in buckets. Dee eventually figured out she wasn’t going to give up and hired a professional.

Bev joined the Snake River Boat Club at Palisades Reservoir in 1957, where she was an active member for decades. She enjoyed improving the club in her spare time, from organizing work parties for wood chopping to bringing puzzles and board games for rainy days. Bev even cleared a trail lakeside (while in her 70s) for the entire club to enjoy, which later became known as “Bev’s Greenbelt.” She loved taking her grandchildren on camping trips there, which they fondly remember.

In Bev’s later years, she continued to enjoy gardening and helping friends and family with complex outdoor projects. It wasn’t uncommon to see Bev high up in a tree, pruning branches with a handsaw. Retirement wasn’t in her vocabulary.

The Olsen family would like to thank apartment community on E. Elva for caring for Bev in her final years. Bev was always an active woman who did not want to live in a retirement home, and we’re deeply grateful for their support in the home she’d known for decades until a few days before her passing.

Bev requested that no service be held after her death, and if you knew Bev, this wouldn’t surprise you. For those wishing to honor her memory, consider making a donation to the National Park Foundation where she spent so much of her life enjoying the outdoors.