Roe Olsen has always been in motion
Glenn and Roe Olsen, at their place in North Park, have been in love since they met in 1965. Both retired in 1999 and moved to Crescent Bar Island.
CRESCENT BAR - Roe Olsen's friends will tell you she's a live wire, always needing something to do and always finding something to do.
And it's true. Her comparatively sedate husband Glenn agrees. He enjoys watching her do an interview more than he likes doing one.
Unless the conversation turns to his native eastern Montana. Then he'll chat as long as you wish.
Glenn, the country boy, was about 30 when he left Sidney, Montana in search of a life in 1965. He found a job in the Kent area, and he also found Roe, the city girl who was raised in Newcastle.
"It was love at first sight," he said.
The Olsens married six months later in 1966.
Glenn new something of the Puget Sound before moving there. He had been stationed with the U.S. Army at Ft. Lewis.
The Army had trained Glenn as a teletype operator, and he surmised that he could find employment in that field or something similar near Seattle. He did, in sales and service for the Royal Typewriter Co.
Later Glenn opened his own office equipment store in Bellevue. Then he had a 24-year career with Safeco Insurance.
Meanwhile, Roe, whose real name is Roena (pronounced Rowena), was into more exciting things. Her first job was selling Decca records to jukebox operators and retail stores.
"She got to know the mafia in Seattle," Glenn said jokingly. "They controlled all the jukeboxes."
It was a great time for Decca Records. Its stable of singing stars included Al Martino and Tony Bennett.
Roe went on to Seattle Record One Stop and sold various labels to similar customers. She ended her music sales career with a 1989-98 stint in video wholesale.
The Olsens started to play golf in the 1970s. Roe took to it right away. Glenn liked it, but not enough to allow it to supplant hunting and fishing.
"She started beating me, and I quit," he said.
Another pleasure for the Olsens in their early years was motocross racing. No, not driving, just watching.
"I tried it once. It was too rough," Glenn said.
The Olsens came to the Mattawa area, when Desert Aire was just a dream, to watch the Big Desert Race. The warm all-day sun got their attention.
"We loved the weather," Roe said.
So the Olsens were anxious to visit when Roe's cousin Jack Quealey invited them to a camping weekend at his lot at Crescent Bar in 1976.
That was back before Jack purchased a permanent home. He and his wife camped on the lot, sleeping in a boat or their 1950s Ford sedan.
"We brought a camping trailer," Glenn said. "Roe had to have water and all that stuff. That was roughing it to her."
A week later, the Olsens bought the lot next to the Quealey lot. They had been thinking about Desert Aire, but Crescent Bar won out.
"It was green here," Roe said. "There were trees. Everywhere else was dirt and sand."
Besides the beautiful Columbia River setting, Crescent Bar had a golf course, and the area was well known for hunting and fishing.
The Roes continued to camp on their lot for years. They finally moved a permanent home there in 1999, the same year they both retired.
As has been usual most of the Olsens' life together, Glenn is the reserved one in retirement. He enjoys just kicking back.
Roe is still Roe.
She is president of the women's club at Crescent Bar Golf Course. She is treasurer of the North Park Home Owners Association.
Roe cleans house for a few customers at Crescent Bar. And she makes time to volunteer at the Habitat for Humanity Thrift Store in Quincy.
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