Veteran California Pastor Lee Olsen Dies
Lee Olsen, former head of the Pacific Southwest District of the Unitarian-Universalist Assn. and a veteran pastor of that liberal denomination, died Wednesday in Sun City. He was 83.
Olsen studied at the Crane Theological School at Tufts University, was ordained in 1932 and held several pastorates in the East and Arizona before coming to California in 1963.
In California, he oversaw 35 churches and fellowships in an area extending from the Mexican border to Bakersfield and from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.
He left that post in 1968 to become minister at large with the national denomination, working with fellowships across the country to develop them into full-scale churches. He retired to Sun City in 1974.
A memorial service is scheduled at 3 p.m. next Sunday at the Orange Coast Unitarian-Universalist Church in Costa Mesa.
Olsen’s survivors, who include his wife, Catherine, three sons and a daughter, suggest contributions in his name to the Unitarian-Universalist Service Committee. These may be made through any local Unitarian church.
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