Bonnie Andrys placed a red rose Tuesday in honor of her first husband, Kenneth Olson, during a ceremony at the Grand Forks County court house memorializing law enforcement officers from across the region who died in the line of duty.
Olson was an East Grand Forks police officer responding to a citizen's late night call July 19, 1978, when he was shot to death by the very man who had called complaining of intruders. His name was one of 42 read by Grand Forks County Sheriff Bob Rost at the third annual Northern Valley Police Week Memorial Service that brought more than 100 law enforcement officers from Canadian and U.S. federal agencies, the Air Force and state and local agencies to downtown Grand Forks.
The fallen officers protected the public "up to the last moment of their valor," said Chaplain Wilfred Rodriguez of the U.S. Border Patrol in asking God's blessing as a warm wind whipped flags and spoken words and bent tall pine trees.
North Dakota Lt. Gov. Drew Wrigley said the fallen officers "gave so much," to make our homes and communities "peaceful and free."
Many of the names came from the Manitoba Royal Canadian Mounted Police; some of the names go back to the 19th century.
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The names included local heroes, like Olson.
'Blink of an eye'
Olson was walking across a lawn in the dark looking for a reported troublemaker when the homeowner shot him. Drunk at the time and later found insane in that moment, the man never was prosecuted.
"Kenny was just 25 and I was 21," Andrys said. "We had been married exactly four months to the day."
She remarried more than three decades ago.
But the devastating memory of that night 35 years ago remains for her and other loved ones of Olson, Andrys said.
"To the family, it was a blink of an eye ago," she said.
A big part of what has helped is the support of Olson's fellow officers, then and now, she said, and ceremonies such as Tuesday's.
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More than 200 law enforcement officers attended Olson's funeral in Augustana Lutheran Church in Grand Forks, and the stream of law enforcement vehicles to his burial in Arvilla, N.D., seemed to stretch all the way back to Grand Forks, Andrys said Tuesday. Olson's mother died in February and her body rests near his.
In 1992, Olson's name was one of those carved on the National Peace Officers Memorial in Washington when it was dedicated by President George H.W. Bush.
Nobody who served with Olson on the police department still is working there, but the connection remains, Andrys said.
"You can tell there's a brotherhood," she said.
On Aug. 3, East Grand Forks police will hold their first annual "Iron Pig Motorcycle Club" ride in honor of Olson, to raise scholarship funds for students pursuing careers in law enforcement, firefighting or other emergency work, Andrys said.
"I teach at Northland (Community and Technical College) and we have students going into law enforcement," she said. "I say a silent prayer for them and tell them it's a real calling."
Call Lee at (701) 780-1237; (800) 477-6572, ext. 1237; or send email to slee@gfherald.com .
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