Catherina "Katy" Gaalswyk Olson (October 24, 1928 – August 14, 2011) was a

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and a former member of the

Minnesota House of Representatives The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. There are 134 members, twice as many as the Minnesota Senate. Floor sessions are held in the north wing of the State Capitol in Saint Pa ...

from southwestern Minnesota.

Service in the Minnesota House

Olson was first elected in 1986 in the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party's "firestorm" that swept through the region. The election gave Democrats unprecedented control of southwestern Minnesota for the next several election cycles. She was re-elected in 1988, 1990, and 1992. She represented the old District 28B and, later, District 22B, which included all or portions of Cottonwood,

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Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...

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, Watonwan , and

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model used ...

counties, changing somewhat through

redistricting Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral dist ...

in 1990. While in the legislature, Olson was a member of the House Agriculture, Education, Rules and Legislative Administration, Transportation and Transit, Economic Development and Housing, and Energy committees, and of various sub-committees relevant to each area. She was chair of the Legislative Commission on the Economic Status of Women from 1991-1993. The commission has since evolved into the Office on the Economic Status of Women. She also served as an assistant

majority leader In U.S. politics (as well as in some other countries utilizing the presidential system), the majority floor leader is a partisan position in a legislative body.

during the 1993-1994 session under House

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

Dee Long.

Background and community service

From the rural Trimont and Sherburn areas, Olson earned a reputation as a strong advocate for farmers, agricultural issues, and education during her time in office. Prior to being elected to the House, she served on the Trimont School Board and, after her service in the legislature concluded, she served on the Minnesota State Board of Teaching and the Minnesota Region 9 Development Commission. Olson and her husband, Robert, were the parents of five children. They had farmed in the Trimont area for many years.

References

External links

Catherina Olson-obituaryOffice on the Economic Status of Women
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olson, Katy 1928 births 2011 deaths Farmers from Minnesota People from Rock Valley, Iowa People from Martin County, Minnesota Democratic Party members of the Minnesota House of Representatives School board members in Minnesota Women state legislators in Minnesota Luther College (Iowa) alumni Minnesota State University, Mankato alumni 21st-century American women