JON OLSON: A life well lived, and the life of any party

My friend Jon Olson died on October 26 at his Jenners' Pond home. Jon served on the Bayard Taylor Library Board with me and was in my experience that truly rare combination: an engineer with a droll sense of humor. (Sorry, engineers, but you know it's true.)
Jon would cheerfully volunteer for just about any duty, from parking cars at the library's annual home and garden tour, to presenting an impromptu investment report at a board meeting, to helping design a Philadelphia Flower Show display for the Spade & Trowel garden club (he'd create these detailed sketches with numbers and calculations). Whatever task he performed, he did it with the greatest style and zest.
A proud Princeton grad, he often volunteered to serve drinks at our library fundraisers, and the liquor was poured with a generous hand whenever he was behind the bar.
A few years ago two other library board members and I joined Jon and his wife, Nancy, for dinner at Sake Hana in Avondale. Jon was grinning broadly throughout, reveling in the fact that he was having dinner with four women and was the only man at a table.
Jon was amusing, intelligent, urbane and kind: a great guy and a wonderful raconteur. Any encounter with him was a memorable one -- especially the last time I saw him, shopping at the Country Butcher.
Godspeed, Jon. Much love to your family.