School founder to reach 100

Esther Olson lived in Norway as a newborn, North Dakota as a child, China as a Lutheran missionary, the Philippines as a victim of World War II atrocities, and has lived decades more in Southern California.

But the soon-to-be 100-year-old is appreciated most in Costa Mesa as the loving and energetic principal who helped found Prince of Peace Lutheran School and grew it for 30 years.

On Saturday, the school she helped build will celebrate nearly 100 years of her life, from her birth in Norway on Christmas of 1908 to her time expanding the tiny elementary school into a community institution. Organizers say the many children and parents whose lives she has touched are ecstatic about the chance to see Olson and wish her a happy birthday.

“We have a lady that’s kind of giving a little talk about her background,” said Audrey Taylor, who has helped organize the event.

“People are absolutely coming out of the woodwork here.”

Olson is kind and small of stature, but has deep inner strength and powers of persuasion — something one might expect from someone who survived three years in prison camp, said David Taylor, 75, whose four children all went to Prince of Peace.

Olson was already famous as a survivor of the Bataan Death March, a forced march of prisoners in World War II that caused staggering fatalities, when she arrived in the early 1960s, he said.

“She was an extremely loving person, but tough as a boot at the same time,” he said. “She did an absolutely fantastic job opening that school.”

Jean Barraclough, who served as principal not long after Olson retired, said she was well aware of the diminutive Olson’s powers of persuasion — she was essentially drafted into teaching, and then administration, after Olson saw a need.

The story begins, Barraclough said, with her first year as a parent at the school, when parents were asked to weigh in on a second language to be taught at the school. After Barraclough spoke passionately in favor of French, Olson told her she should teach it herself.

“I very, very thankfully declined,” Barraclough said. “After Christmas, I had acquiesced and said yes, I will. Next year, she had me teaching the entire student body, and after that year, she said, ‘Jean, you need to teach sixth grade for me’” — a job she held for almost a decade, and said she loved every minute.

The celebration is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. today in the sanctuary of Prince of Peace Lutheran.

The free event is a potluck, and attendees are asked to bring food.

MICHAEL ALEXANDER may be reached at (714) 966-4618 or at michael.alexander@latimes. com.