Maryellen Olson (1933-2019) served on the board of the former National College of Naturopathic Medicine (now NUNM) for eight years in the early ‘80s. This was a critical time in the history of the school, when the question of whether the school would go on was looming large and real.
Maryellen was stirred to her passion for natural medicine when her sister, Karen McGraw, was diagnosed with cancer in the early ‘70s. She took her sister to Boulder, CO, to see a well-known German herbalist and healer, Hannah Kroeger, and thus her journey began.
In addition to being a stalwart advocate of natural medicine, she was an early advocate of organic gardening, environmental protection and more. (She hired her kids to pull weeds at a penny a pop instead of using pesticides. She also had them take turns at the crank on the wheat grinder so she would have fresh-ground whole wheat flour with which to make bread that embarrassed them to no end when they pulled out their sandwiches of non-hydrogenated peanut butter and banana wrapped in waxed paper and reused large grocery bags while kids everywhere ate squishy white bread with jelly and Jif or Skippy and pre-packaged pudding cups.)
While she was on the board, she worked with several other early supporters of naturopathy in Oregon, including Dr. Ravinder Sahni, who passed away in 2014. Two other naturopathic doctors who worked with her during that time were Bruce Canvasser and Jerry Schlesser, who had these words to share regarding Maryellen:
Bruce Canvasser, ND, shared the following:
Maryellen was wonderful. She was so supportive and instrumental to the growth of the Naturopathic college in Oregon and helped to make it the important institution it has become today. I feel fortunate that I was able to know and work with her during those formative years. She was very dedicated and her input was so valuable.
Jerry Schlesser, ND, who was chairman of the board for 8 years and came on to serve in this role at the same critical time, said:
I have very fond memories of her….She was such a delightful person, always a kind word, always a positive influence. Very gentle. She made her presence felt and known. I’m very grateful for that.
Both of them [Maryellen and her husband, Dave] were very supportive at a particularly critical time for the institution because things were not as stable. It was an act of generosity–and beyond–to give of themselves in so many ways to the school when there was no guarantee that it was going to survive….We’re very grateful…People don’t realize the contribution that was made back in those days. It meant giving up other opportunities, other commitments to come and sit on the board and help guide the school when it was really on thin ice. There were very few people in the community outside of the naturopathic world who were as committed as your mom and dad were at that point. That was an outstanding effort on their part. There was no reward; they did it purely out of faith and their ideal vision of health care. They were so gentle about it. There wasn’t any forcing about it but they were consistent in their commitment.
They had the business acumen…and made material contributions to the school. The school was desperately in need of guidance and support that came outside of the naturopathic community.
Maryellen passed away on March 2, 2019, at the age of 86. Before she passed, she expressed the wish that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to NUNM in her honor. We appreciate your support of this fine institution that Maryellen did so much to keep alive and financially sound.
In gratitude,
The Olson family