It is not often that this office will publish about a contemporary individual. We take this rare exception to honor someone that has greatly changed the Mitchell County Historical Society museum both internally and externally. To honor Gregg, the museum hosted a remembrance gathering for people to come and tell stories and see pictures of him through his life. It was held at the Museum, 1915 N. Independence in Beloit on Sunday Aug. 9, 2026.
Greggory “Gregg” George Olson, 76, passed away Sunday, May 24, 2026 in Beloit, KS. He was born June 30, 1949 at the Mitchell County Hospital in Beloit, Kansas to Earl Milford Olson and Sarah Lee (Hougland) Olson.
Gregg Olson came to us in the winter of 2012 wanting something to do once or twice a month that would benefit the society. His family has deep roots in the county.
Gregg Olson attended Field Grade School and spent his youth with the West Main Street gang of kids while helping his dad at Olson Clothing Store. Gregg went to Beloit High School and graduated in 1967. During those years, he worked for Harold Chance Grocery and The Clover Farm Store. He also was a Rotary exchange student to Finland in the summer of 1966. Although he was part of the nerd crowd, Gregg got caught doing some pretty funny antics such as sticking a “For Sale” sign out on a small island that was below the Beloit Mill Dam for people to see that were driving across the river bridge. After high school, he attended University of Missouri Science and Technology at Rolla, Mo studying petroleum engineering.
In 1972, Gregg moved back to Beloit and started work at Torr’s Hy-Klas Grocery. He took a farming job for Charlie Mears in 1974 and worked there until he was hired by Great Plains Landscape in 1982 which worked at until his retirement in 2009. Retirement didn’t slow him down, he spent 10 years volunteering three days a week at the Mitchell County Museum and took part time jobs at Sunny Slope Apartments. Genealogy and cemetery research were something he was very passionate about. He made yearly pilgrimages to many cemeteries on Memorial Day to decorate graves. He even traveled to Norway twice to walk in the footsteps of his ancestors.
Gregg married Emily Jo Gruber at the Presbyterian Church in Beloit on Nov. 18, 1978. To this union one daughter, Olivia, was born.
Olson wanted to begin by doing some Simpson research.
His first major project was gathering information about the school and mill. He soon was hooked. By 2014, Gregg was volunteering 3 days a week and helping with all the society’s events. His involvement with research of original homesteaders of the valley and preparing for the “Raid Tours” of 2018 was pivotal. The research work on file for many topics will be a long standing tribute to his work with Vickie Mears (Bar Maid, as Gregg jokingly referred to her) and myself, Museum Director, Kyle Peterson. He was heavily involved helping do renovation at the new museum and was many times the only volunteer on a project. He even helped complete the metal shelving construction which was granted to the society by the Solomon Valley Community Foundation; construction work, his least favorite project.
Gregg made every effort to talk up the museum when he was out in public and he was everywhere, spending time helping at the food pantry, community gardens(here and at Lincoln) and the Lincoln Art Center. He even showed up at the Waconda Cultural Association at Glen Elder State Park multiple times to help MCHS staff make Native American grass rope with his nephew George Chapman.
The museum started its push to move in 2022 to the new facility and Gregg was right there making hundreds of trips back and forth bringing his tool bag to take hundreds of items off the walls. He enjoyed working on the research about his Uncle Bill Houghland, a two-time Gold Medal Olympian, who is one of the many stories being honored at the new BHS stadium renovation. One of his last projects in 2024 was organizing the hundreds of Mitchell County School Annuals and the 115 one room school house records that number in the thousands.
The museum has seen it many times, people get older and health fails; Gregg recognized his health was putting limitations on what he could do for the society. It was a hard pill to swallow because he had become so integral to us. It didn’t stop him from stopping in from time to time to see “what’s up”.
Gregg had many passions: bird watching, fishing, hiking, baking, bike riding and hanging out with friends. He made the decision one summer to hike across Mitchell County from North to South so he and his friends could experience Mitchell County at its fullest. Gregg enjoyed putting pen to paper sending letters to friends and family. He was known to jump in and play some good “Cow Bell” with local band, “Billy Bob and the Belaires”. He grew up playing trombone in the high school band which led to his love for music particularly jazz. Gregg had an extensive library and was an avid reader of all sorts of topics. He was a true renaissance man. His and Jo’s gardens down on the “Wrench Place” were some of the biggest in the county.
“I embrace emerging experience. I participate in discovery. I am a butterfly. I am not a butterfly collector.” -William Stafford
